Ripple Effect
by Sophia Conrad
Summary: "If a man sneezes one way, the world is fine. If he sneezes the other, and the world is in utter chaos..." Things changed when Michael saved Liz on that fateful day in the Crashdown Cafe, in ways that they could never anticipate. One tiny act sparked a crusade, which sparked a revolution, which changed the world. On that day, everything changed. [Polar. Parallel fic] [Chapter 5/22]
1. Chapter 1: The Pebble Drops

**Ripple Effect**

**Sophia Conrad**

**Chapter 1: The Pebble Drops**

* * *

_"__I had a hamburger, when the gun went off I ran away. Did I break the law?__"_

_- Max Evans._

* * *

_"September 23rd. Journal entry one. I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. After that, things got really weird..."_

**5 days ago…**

Business was booming in the crowded Crashdown Café, the Crash Festival, Roswell's anniversary party for the 1947 crash event was being hosted that week, and the town was already filling up with the annual batch of tourists, sight-seer's and thrill-seekers. Blech.

Liz Parker, and her friend Maria, were the ones with the unfortunate task of having to serve the lot of them. Which, for this week, meant that had to field questions, make up stories and do their darn best to up the hype, no matter how much they hated it.

"Okay, I have got one Sigourney Weaver, that's for you. And one Will Smith. Can I get you guys anything else? Green Martian Shake? Blood of Alien smoothie?" Liz reeled off her usual sales-pitch. They wouldn't buy, if she didn't try. It was cheesy, but true. When one worked in the food industry, or in any job really, it was always easier if you can laugh about it later.

"No, thanks. We're good." Larry, the first tourist said.

"Are you guys here for the crash festival?" Liz asked, politely making small talk. As her Dad always said – You'll catch more flies with honey, than with vinegar.

"Yeah, can't wait." Larry's girlfriend, Jennifer said. She glanced around, and then asked Liz:

"So... does your family come from Roswell?"

"Just four generations." Liz said, smiling. The tourists shared an eager look.

"Uh, well, does anyone in your family have stories about the UFO crash?" Larry asked tentatively, looking around. Liz suppressed the urge to roll her eyes, and put her game face on. Paranoid much?

"Well, I guess it would be O.K. to show you guys this..." Liz told them, keeping her voice deliberately low as she handed over her fake-alien picture. Maria passed behind her to reach a table for two, coffee pot in hand and shook her head, grinning as the pair of tourists lapped up Liz's story.

"Refill?" Maria asked the two truckers, trying to be polite.

"No, get outta here." The first guy snapped at her. Maria rolled her eyes, she could take a hint. As she walked back to the other end of the café, she overheard Liz spinning her tale. Tourists – they always fell for it. Every _single_ time.

"My grandmother took this picture at the crash site _right_ before the government cleaned it up." Liz told the couple she was serving, looking around to check if anybody was watching. There never was.

"Do people know about this photograph?" Jennifer asked, trying not to gape.

"Well, I know about it, and now you know about it." Liz said. Her captive audience didn't even stop to contemplate the fact that she had it in her apron pocket, or that she had just shared a supposed family secret with a pair of perfect strangers. _Suckers._

"Woah! Wow!" Jennifer exclaimed in tandem with Larry.

"I'm gonna be right back, don't show that to anyone." Liz told them, joining Maria and heading over to the cash register.

"No..." Jennifer agreed, staring reverently at the photo.

"You are sooo bad girl. Oh, and Max Evans is staring at you again." Maria told her, grinning. She nodded over to the booth where Max sat with his friend Michael Guerin.

"No way." Liz shook her head, laughing.

"Maria, that is so in your imagination." Liz told her, looking over to where Max sat. She caught his eye before he quickly looked away, abashed at having been caught.

"Max Evans? This? No, uh uh… It's not..." Liz tried to formulate an argument.

"And with those cheeks?" Maria teased, pinching Liz's cheeks live an overbearing grandmother.

"Maria!" Liz's voice went up an octave as she swatted her friend away.

"And, and even if it weren't I'm going out with Kyle. I mean, he's steady and loyal, and he appreciates me." She insisted, trying to prove her point.

"Sounds like you're describing a poodle." Maria said wryly.

"...you ask me to give you another day!? You're running outta time." The man who had snapped at Maria stood up, sending the dishes on his table flying to the floor. Unlike the Alien Flying Saucers, these ones smashed in to pieces, like the china they were made of.

"Liz!" Maria shouted, scared. The majority of the restaurants patrons were now focused solely on the argument, ready to duck out of the way at a moments notice.

"I want the money today. _Not_ tomorrow!" The aggressive trucker from earlier shouted. His companion pulled a gun, and the majority of the crowd dropped to the floor. All except for Liz. There was a loud crack as the gun went off and Liz collapsed, unnoticed for a few moments as the two men drew the attention by making a break for it.

"Liz...?" Maria called out, scared for her friend. There was no reply. Max got up from his seat and stared at where Liz lay, face going blank with shock. Michael joined him, and put a hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him backwards.

"What are you doing? Let go of me." Max asked, clearly in shock. The girl of his dreams was dying, go figure.

"Max, go get in the jeep." Michael told him, pulling him backwards, more firmly this time. He was no use like this. Heck, Max was a shoddy healer at the best of times.

"Call an ambulance." Michael told Maria, before heading over to where Liz lay. She had definitely been shot, the wound on her abdomen bled through onto her baby blue uniform. Trying to be as unemotional as possible, Michael tore her uniform open to get a better look. It wasn't pretty.

The bullet had lodged itself in one of her abdominal muscles, preventing it from exiting her body, and had most likely torn her stomach lining. This meant that even now, the acid and bile produced there would be leaking out and burning her organs. In less than 10 minutes, it would reach her heart and kill her. A stomach wound was definitely one of the most painful ways to die. That was, if the blood loss didn't kill her first. Chances were, the bullet had also clipped the aorta, a major artery in the body that passed through the abdomen.

"Uhh...it's gonna be OK." Michael tried to reassure her, while debating on how best to fix the damage.

"Oh my god!" Jennifer, the woman from earlier screeched, and Michael turned to shout at her.

"Hey, get back!" He turned back to Liz, focusing again.

"Liz, LIZ! You have to look at me. You have to look at me." He told her, and she blearily opened her eyes, having a hard time focusing on anything. She was going into shock.

Quickly, Michael placed his hand over the wound and focused. The miniscule space between his hand and her skin lit up with a faint glow as he willed the bullet to dissolve into harmless molecules of iron and other minerals. Inside her body, her cells kicked into overdrive to repair the damage, damage that would normally take weeks to heal, that was, if she didn't die from blood loss first. The capillaries knit back together, and the acid retreated into her already healing stomach.

As he did this, Michael began to see flashes. Specifically, flashes of Liz. Memories of her childhood, playing with her friends at recess. Studying for a science project in middle school. Little things, trivial things. But what stood out the most was the memory of the little girl wearing a dress covered in cupcakes. He sighed, and pulled his hand away; satisfied that she would be fine. He looked around, and then pressed his fingers to her uniform – willing the blood to dissolve, and the bullet hole to reseal, removing all evidence of her being shot. He passed his hand over the small puddle of blood on the floor, reducing it to water.

"You're all right now. You're all right." Michael soothed the barely lucid girl, hoping she wouldn't freak out.

"Jeep! Now!" Michael shouted at Max, who still hadn't moved from where he stood by the booth. Max shook his head, turned and ran out the door, keys in hand.

"You tripped over your feet when the gun went off and hit your head, that's all. Don't say anything else." Michael told her, before racing out of the café to where Max had the Jeep waiting. The sped away, like they were being chased by the hounds of hell themselves. Dazed, Liz stood up, staring after him. What had just _happened._

"Are you okay?" Maria asked her, taking in her disheveled appearance. Liz didn't answer. What could she say? A boy I barely know just brought me back from the dead? Yeah right.

* * *

Half an hour later, most of the customers had cleared out, and the Deputy from the local Sherriff's department was finishing taking statements. The front door crashed open as Mr. Parker, who was both the owner of the Café, and Liz's dad, barreled through it.

"Lizzie. Oh my God!" He exclaimed, making his way over to where she stood, a shock blanket around her shoulders.

"No, dad, dad look, Look. See, I'm fine. I just slipped. Really, I'm fine." She insisted, trying to calm him down before he went into a full-fledged panic attack.

"Are you sure?" He fussed, still trying to check her over.

"Yeah. I'm fine, really." She reassured him. A few feet away, Deputy Hanson was getting the descriptions of the men involved from Maria. She wasn't the most helpful of witness's.

"The guy with the gun was kind of like a, like a muscular Beavis. And... The other one was like a, like a beefy Butthead." Maria told him, gesturing with her hands as she spoke.

"I'm gonna need a better description then that. I'm assuming they weren't actually cartoons." The Deputy said, clearly not impressed with Maria's memory skills. Maria pulled a face.

"Excuse me." Maria said, opening up her bottle of Cypress oil as Sheriff Valenti walked into the room. He caught sight of her sniffing the bottle and shot her a look.

"Cypress Oil, it um, it reduces stress." Maria said, shrugging her shoulders. Valenti turned away to face Liz.

"You okay?" Sherriff Valenti asked Liz, who was still enveloped in her Dad's death grip.

"Yeah, thanks. I-I'm just a little shaken up." Liz said, smiling faintly.

"Sheriff, the suspects ran out just after the incident occurred. Couple of outsiders. No apparent robbery, no injuries other than the girl that fell. Just seems like an argument that got outta hand." Deputy Hanson filled him in, before turning to see the pair of tourists nosing around the back area.

"Hey, I told you two to stay outta there!" He shouted at them.

"Couple of tourists in town for the crash." Deputy Hanson explained when Valenti gave him an odd look.

"Uh, Sheriff, hi, um, I'm sorry, I really need to talk to you. I think something happened here." Larry said, trying not to fidget.

"What do you think happened?" Valenti asked, trying to be polite. You never knew, sometimes the tourists were worth listening too.

"The gunman was, was standing right over there, right?" Larry pointed to the table near the cash register.

"And the shot was fired into this direction. Now, Jen and I, we searched this entire place up and down and... I mean there's, where's the bullet?" He asked, looking back and forth between the Sherriff and his Deputy.

"We haven't found a bullet hole yet sheriff." Deputy Hanson confirmed.

"Yeah, and uh, sheriff. Before it happened, the girl gave me this." Larry said, turning Liz's prank photo over to him. Valenti took one look, and had to suppress the urge to groan. Really?

"Jeff…" Valenti said, passing the photo to Mr. Parker.

"Lizzie!" Liz's dad exclaimed.

"Yeah?" Liz replied, cringing.

"What have I told you about showing the alien photos to the tourists?" Her dad asked, shaking his head. It was hard to be angry with your teenage daughter, when she'd nearly been shot less than half an hour earlier. As he pulled her into a hug, Valenti made his way over to the booth where Max and Michael had been sitting. On the table, sat two empty bottles of Tabasco sauce. The two tourists from earlier, watched him with eager eyes.

"There were two kids sitting over here when it happened, two boys about her age. And then one of them went-"Jennifer started to say, hyped up on the adrenaline left over.

"Uh yea, that's right there were. You know that I didn't recognize them, so they must have just been tourists." Liz cut in, desperate to avoid any questions about Max and Michael.

"No, no it sure looked like that she knew them to me." Larry disagreed. Sheriff Valenti looked to Liz. She refused to meet his eye.

That night, Liz hid her uniform in a book bag, unsure of what to do with it. Did she keep it? Or should she burn it, just in case. There wasn't any visible evidence of her being shot, but even she knew that sometimes traces were left behind. As she got ready for bed, her reflection in the mirror caught her eye. On her stomach, right where Michael had put his hand to heal her was a bright silver handprint.

* * *

Liz couldn't focus. The next day she found herself sitting in her Biology class. A class she _shouldn't_ have been in. A life she _shouldn't_ have been living. She should have been dead, but she wasn't. Every breath she took, she owed to Michael. She hadn't asked him to save her but he had, and for that, she was thankful.

The teacher had stated the class of as usual, and for once – Liz found it hard to hear her voice. It was as if everything had just gone… surreal. She shook herself out of it, and tried to focus. Tried to forget how it had felt to have been shot, to have been healed. But most importantly, how it had felt to have had Michael's hand on her stomach, and hearing him tell her it would be alright.

"Okay, we've spent the last week talking about Genus and Phylum, and now we're going to get a little more specific and talk about the difference between species. For today's experiment you'll be working in teams of two." The teacher told them, and Liz looked up in time to see Max Evans walk in late, a pencil stuck in his mouth. He flopped down into the chair at her neighboring bench and began flipping through his textbook.

"Mr. Evans, so nice of you to join us." The teacher said, before refocusing on the whole class.

"Okay, everyone on the right prepare a slide with the vegetable sampling, everyone on the left, take a toothpick and get a sample from your cheek." As she said this, Max stilled and removed the pencil from his mouth. He raised his hand, looking extremely uncomfortable.

"Mr. Evans?" The teacher asked, indicating that he could speak.

"Could I get a bathroom pass?" He asked, clearly nervous about something.

"High maintenance today aren't we?" The teacher said wryly, handing him the pass and Liz a toothpick. Max bolted, and Liz barely spared him a glance as she prepped her own cheek sample.

"It's very easy to look on the outside and say what differentiates humans from other species. But what about what's on the inside, everyone, look at the human cells and describe everything you see on your lab sheet." The teacher explained the day's lab. After she'd finished her own sample, Liz glanced over to the pencil that Max had left behind. She'd be lying if she said that she wasn't curious. Maybe he was like Michael… whatever or whoever Michael was.

She looked into the microscope again, memorizing how her cheek cells looked, before scraping the evidence left behind from Max's pencil. It wasn't the best way of doing it, but it was all she had. Quickly she prepped a second slide, this one with the cells she had just collected, and slid it under the microscope. The two slides were nothing alike. As soon as class was over, Liz bolted for the hallway, desperate for some answers. She caught sight if Max and hurried over to him.

"Max! Max! Excuse me, excuse me. Max, I have to talk to you." She took him by the arm and began to lead him toward the band room, but stopped a few second later. Michael had just walked into the hall. She dragged Max over to him and proceeded to use her spare arm to pull Michael along. Opening the door to the band room, she pushed them both inside and then shut the door behind them. The room was practically empty, save for her unofficial boyfriend Kyle who was beating a set of drums, bopping his head as he did so.

"Kyle!" Liz said, surprised. She hadn't thought that anybody else would be in there.

"Hey!" Kyle smiled, happy to see his unofficial girlfriend.

"Hey!" Liz tried not to grimace.

"Hey Max. Michael." Kyle greeted the two boys.

"Hey." Max replied, not making eye contact. This was awkward.

"Whatever." Michael grunted.

"So'd you get my message?" Kyle asked her, putting his drumsticks down.

"Oh yeah, I did. I was uh, just a little..." Liz replied, anxious to be rid of him.

"Shaken up.' Kyle finished her sentence.

"That's what I was." Liz nodded enthusiastically.

"I know, my dad told me about the gun goin' off. You okay?" Kyle said, slightly worried.

"Oh, yea I am, it was just loud and then it was over." Liz shrugged off the events of the previous afternoon. After all, it wasn't as if she'd been shot. Which was the official story.

"So you guys are...?" Kyle asked, gesturing to the three of them.

"Um, we're looking for a place... to study, for our Bio midterm." Liz covered quickly.

"Oh right. Right okay, Biology. All right, I was leavin' anyway." Kyle nodded, he wasn't really into science all that much.

"Great, um, that's good." Liz smiled at him.

"Oh, I got my costume for the crash this Friday it's great-" Kyle started, but Liz cut him off.

"Kyle. We've gotta study. Sorry." She shot him an apologetic grin, and he nodded, understanding.

"Right. See you Max." Kyle waved and left the room, humming a beat as he went.

"So... You're going out with the Sheriff's son?" Max asked her, a little bummed. Michael rolled his eyes, not looking forward to Max's inevitable pity party. Talk about no good deed going unpunished.

"Um, yeah. Well, it's kind of like this, this casual..." Liz trailed off, shaking her head to refocus.

"Okay, Max. Can we just focus here for one minute please?" She asked, and then raised her shirt to show them the mark that Michael had left behind.

"Wow." Max said, actually astounded. Michael groaned and put his head in his hands. _Crap._

"Well… I should have died yesterday, and then Michael did something and I didn't. Then, I, um, I-I scraped some cells from your pencil. This is really hard to say, I'm trying to keep from blacking out here. Um, the cells weren't normal. So, Max, what I'm going to suggest to you is that we just go back to the bio lab now, so that I can take a sample so that I can see what I'm thinking is wrong, you know? That I got the wrong cells..." Liz tried to keep her voice steady.

"You didn't." Max told her, ignoring Michael grumbled of disapproval.

"Okay, um. So help me out here Max. I mean, what are you?" Liz asked nervously. This was surreal…

"Well we're not from around here." Max told her with a wry smile, and Liz nodded.

"Where you from?" She asked nervously, and Michael could only groan once more, burying his face even deeper into his hands. _Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap! _Max pointed to the ceiling with his index finger. Liz eyed him cautiously.

"Up north?" Liz asked hopefully. She was a Roswellian, born and bred – she wasn't supposed to believe in aliens. Max lifted his finger to point higher and Liz gulped.

"You're not an, an alien, I mean. Are you?" Liz swallowed had, looking back and forth between the two boys.

"Well I prefer the term not of this earth. Sorry, it's not a good time to joke." Max admitted, shaking his head.

"Yeah, I am. Wow, it's weird to actually say it." He told her.

"Okay, and Michael?" Liz asked, trying not to black out. Michael didn't bother to even look up; he just gave her the finger. Liz nodded.

"I'll take that as a yes… Okay…" Liz exhaled heavily, and then started to walk out of the room.

"Liz..." Max tried, but she shook her head, trying not to freak out. It was one thing to have a hypothesis, but it was a whole different kettle of fish to have it confirmed.

"Um, Max, you know, I have, I'm gonna be late for my US Government class, so I'm just gonna -" Max stopped her at the door, holding it shut with his foot.

"Liz, listen to me. You can't talk to anyone about this. Not your parents, not Maria. No one. You don't understand what'll happen if you do. Liz please? Now our lives are in your hands." He told her. Liz looked up at him for a moment, and then pushed him back so that she could leave. As the door shut behind her, Michael lifted his head to glare at Max.

* * *

"Well, it says right here that shots were fired but no one was injured." Alex Whitman, the third member of Maria and Liz's friendship read from the paper. He was sat with Maria in the cafeteria discussing the events of the day before.

"Then where's Liz? I mean, why is she avoiding me? Okay, first of all, Liz is never late right? She walks into homeroom today, and goes and sits next to Pam Troy. She like, hates Pam Troy and you know like, goes around admitting it openly...and...Alex are you listening to me?" Maria ranted, feeling more than a little bit lost. Liz always told her everything, and now, now Liz was avoiding her.

"Yeah, yeah, Maria I'm listening to you. But this is just you being you. All right? Liz is fine, nothing happened it's all right here in black and white." Alex tried to reassure her. It didn't work. Maria looked up just in time to see Liz pass the doorway, and head down the hall. Saying goodbye, Maria grabbed her purse and followed her friend down the hall to the girl's bathroom. She walked in to find Liz splashing her face with water, clearly trying to calm herself down.

"Hey." Liz said, catching sight of Maria.

"So I called like, 37 times." Maria told her, sounding a little sullen.

"I know, I'm sorry." Liz told her, not meeting her eyes.

"Liz, what happened?" Maria asked, concerned.

"What do you mean Maria? You were there, you saw everything?" Liz asked nervously, trying to avoid a confrontation.

"Did I? Cause um, this looks a lot like blood to me." Maria said, holding out Liz's order pad. It was dyed red with blood, something that Michael had forgotten to fix in his hurry. Liz gulped.

"What did Michael do to you?" Maria asked, and Liz dried her hands in silence. She honestly had no real answer. What exactly _had_ he done?

* * *

After Liz had left, Michael and Max had stood there in silence for a long time. The bell rang, and they waited. The next bell rang for lunch, and finally Michael moved toward the door. If they made Isabel wait any longer, she would hunt them down and make them pay. Side by side, they made their way to the cafeteria and joined Isabel in the lunch queue, collected their lunches and sat down at a table. All the while, Isabel was talking.

"…the important thing is, to contain this. We just have to figure out what to say to Miss Scientist." Isabel decided, the control freak inside her beginning to surface. Max looked away, guiltily and Isabel frowned.

"Oh my God, you told her." She hissed at him, eyes narrowed.

"I didn't have a choice. It's gonna be okay." Max said.

"I can't believe this Max. You know, I finally feel like I have a quasi-normal existence and you two go and blow it all on some random girl!" Isabel snarled at him, before looking at Michael.

"How did you let my misguided brother do this? I'd expect this kind of stunt from you, but not him." If looks could kill, they would be 6ft under already.

"Hey don't turn this around on me. I'm not the one who told her. If he hadn't said anything, she probably woulda passed it off as a mistake." Michael grumped when Isabel turned on him

"Look, I said I was sorry." Max said, sighing heavily.

"Well I'm not. If I hadn't, Max would have tried, and he'd probably have made it worse. Then where would we be?" Michael told Isabel, who wasn't impressed.

"What the hell were you thinking Michael?" She demanded.

"I was thinking that she didn't deserve to die. Not like that." Michael glowered at her, and she began to puff up like an adder before Max intervened.

"It's not like you can talk. You use your powers all the time." Max said, as Isabel did exactly that and reheated her taco.

"Recreationally. I've never done anything like what you two did." Isabel argued.

"Don't you realize that everything has changed." Isabel asked them, looking down at her food.

"No, it hasn't." Max told her. Michael frowned, thinking hard.

"Max, she's right, we're screwed. It's time to leave Roswell." He decided, before getting up and walking away. Max and Isabel shared a look before following.

"Michael, we can't just leave." Max said as they walked out into the parking lot

"Yeah, we can. We've always known this day would come. We said when it did we'd be prepared." Michael retorted, trying to keep his temper under control.

"Michael, where are we gonna go. You know Roswell's home." Isabel said as they climbed into the beat up army surplus jeep

"Roswell's not home. It's not even in our solar system." Michael pointed out as Max started the engine.

"Well this is the closest thing we have to home right now." Max told him.

"For you two maybe, it was you the Evans found on the side of the road, not me. They're like real parents to you. My foster dad just keeps me around for the monthly check." Michael replied grumpily.

"This is gonna be OK. We should just lay low. Go back to school and act normal." Max reassured him.

"Act normal? That's your big plan Max? Don't you realize it's only a matter of time before they find us and turn us over to some government agency where they're gonna test us and prod us, and, oh yea, exterminate us." Isabel hissed as Max drove the Jeep out on to the road. He ignored her, so after five minutes of painful silence, she pulled out a CD and held it to her ear, using her powers to listen to it.

"Isabel, could you please not do that?" Max asked after a few more minutes.

"Yea, like listening to a CD is the problem." Isabel huffed, putting the CD down.

"I couldn't just let her die." Michael said softly, and Isabel gave him a pained look. He was right, nobody deserved to die like that. She just wished it hadn't happened. Not seconds later, the Sherriff's car appeared in the rear view mirror, lights flashing wildly. Michael stiffened.

"Is he pulling us over?" Isabel asked, trying not to panic.

"Max go, let's get outta here." Michael hissed.

"We can't start acting guilty." Max told them, pulling over.

"He always pulls kids over he does it all the time. It's nothing."

"Yea, nuthin'." Michael grumbled as Valenti got out of his truck and walked over to them.

"Your license and registration please." Sherriff Valenti asked when he reached them.

"Of course officer." Max complied and handed them over. Valenti looked them over before handing them back to Max, who stowed them away.

"Thank you Mr. Evans. We had a little trouble at the Crashdown Cafe yesterday. You kids be careful out there." Valenti tipped his hat.

"Yes sir." Max agreed, moving his foot back to the gas pedal. As he did so, he knocked a half-empty bottle of Tabasco, which Valenti eyed.

"Watch your speed. Arrive alive." Valenti told him, Max nodded.

"We will." He agreed. Valenti turned and went back to his car, driving off. Max went to start the jeep, but Isabel leant forward and snatched the keys from the ignition.

"Izzie, everything is gonna be okay." Max said calmly.

"No it won't. Our cover is blown. How long is it going to be before they come after us? How long?" Isabel argued, holding the keys out of his reach.

"No one is going to come for us. I mean, we don't even know if there is a 'them'." Max told her.

"What happened to our parents? What happened to everybody else on the ship? They were killed, and you know that." Isabel shouted at him.

"Liz won't tell anyone, she's different." Max said softly. Michael rolled his eyes. The guy had it bad.

"Really? So how'd she react when you told her? 'Great you're an alien that's fantastic.'" Isabel asked, furious. Max looked away, and Michael refused to meet her eyes.

"No, I didn't think so." Isabel huffed, throwing herself out of the jeep and walking away.

"Thought I was pissed." Michael muttered, before shutting up as Max shot him a glare.

* * *

That evening, Kyle walked Liz back to her house after their date. She'd had a nice time, but the whole evening, her mind had been wandering and whirring. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask.

"Well, goodnight." Liz said as they reached her door.

"Oh right, right. Listen Liz, you've, you've been somewhere else all night." Kyle said, trying not to sound cross. He was worried about her.

"I know, I'm sorry. Kyle, do you ever wonder if..." Liz tailed off. Kyle looked at her.

"Do I ever wonder what?" Kyle asked, more than a little confused.

"When you see me, do you, do you feel things." Liz asked, not really sure what she was thinking, or how to phrase it.

"Yes, of course. I feel things. Like what?" Kyle answered with another question.

"Forget it, I don't know what I was talking about. I'm just gonna go get some sleep." Liz told him, and Kyle deflated a little.

"All right." He said. She reached up to turn off the light outside her door, causing her shirt to ride up. Kyle caught sight of the silver handprint that was emblazoned on her stomach.

"Liz?" Kyle asked, and Liz hurriedly pulled her shit down.

"Uh, Maria and I were experimenting with ideas for the Crash bash. She, uh, got bored." Liz told him, instinctively covering for Michael. Max's words from earlier kept resounding in her head.

"Okay…" Kyle said, clearly not sure if he should believe her or not.

"Good night Kyle." Liz said, trying to make her point. She was still smiling though.

"Goodnight Liz." He replied, and turned to walk away. The door shut softly behind her.

* * *

Liz sat out on her rooftop balcony, starring up at the stars. It was still balmy, the effects of summer had yet to wear off.

"Liz? Liz!" Liz looked around, trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. It sounded like _Michael. _Liz went to the edge of the rooftop, and looked over it. It _was_ Michael.

"I have to talk to you." He said, and she gestured to the metal ladder that ran up the wall. He scaled it easily and sat on the ledge, tapping his foot against the floor. Neither one of them spoke for several moments.

"What?" She asked, trying to figure out why he kept staring at her.

"Sorry, I just , uh, I just keep picturing you in that dress, with the, uh, the cupcakes...on it. It's a little bit... odd." Michael explained.

"What?" Liz said, eyes a little wide.

"Forget it, it was a long time ago." Michael tried to cover up his slip.

"Oh my God. That's, that's right. I can't believe I actually wore that thing!" Liz exclaimed, before pausing and staring at him.

"Wait a minute. I had that dress in kindergarten, I didn't know you until the fourth grade. Did you like, read my mind or something?" Liz said, surprised.

"Uh, no, I don't read minds. When I healed you, I made this, this , I don't know, this connection. And I got this rush of images... And an image of that dress flashed into my mind, and , I knew how you felt about it." Michael told her.

"How did I feel about it?" She asked, not really sure if she should believe it.

"It was the most embarrassing time of your life. But your Mom made it for you, and she'd never made a dress before, so you wore it. Because you wanted her to be happy." Michael said. Liz could only nod in shock.

"I've never tried this before, but maybe I can make the connection go the other way. Just so you can see, y'know, that I'm not dangerous." Michael told her, moving closer.

"I'm going to have to touch you." He warned, and Liz nodded her consent. Gently, Michael pressed his hands to her temples.

"Now just take deep breaths and try to let your mind blank out." He instructed, and she did as she was told. The images were slow at first, but then progressed to a quicker pace.

A little boy running through a barren field; Meeting Max and Isabel for the first time out in the desert and running away at the sight of the headlights. The Orphanage, Hank shouting at him. School; Meeting Max and Isabel again; Running into Liz and Maria in the hallways, Teachers expressing disappointment. But most of all, and undeniable theme of loneliness that coated everything – The need to be loved.

_"I could feel everything he was feeling. I could feel his loneliness, and his pain. For the first time I was really seeing_ _Michael Guerin. He was so much more than anybody gave him credit for. So much stronger, and I felt privileged to be allowed to see what he hid underneath his stonewall façade."_

"Did it work?" He asked as he pulled away, and Liz could only nod, amazed. _Wow_.

* * *

_ "_ _It was as if_ _he had put a force on me. It's like my whole life changed in an instant. It's just so ironic that when something like this finally happened to me, it was with an alien."_

"Hey." Alex said, leaning against the door of the band room. Liz looked up at him.

"Oh, hey Alex. Have you seen my bookbag anywhere?" She asked. She'd brought it to school that morning so she could ask Michael's opinion on what to do with it, but had been to freaked out to say anything. Now it was missing.

"No, I haven't. Can I talk to you for a second?" He sounded worried.

"Yeah, what's up?" Liz asked, still looking around for the missing bag,

"Well, I'm your friend, and I'm Maria's friend to, so if you lie to Maria, it's sort of like lying to me." Alex said, fidgeting as he spoke.

"Alex, what did Maria say to you?" Liz asked, straightening up.

"Well, frankly it's vague. I mean, everything needs to be put through the Maria filter. But, she said something about how she found blood on your order book. What's going on?" Alex said, a frown marring his face.

"Alex, Maria is a total drama queen. You know that. Nothing is going on." Liz waved his concern away.

"O-okay, well, look. All I care about is that you're Okay. So you're, you are alright, you're okay?" Alex asked, double checking.

"I'm Okay." Liz assured him.

"Alright." Alex decided, nodding to himself.

"Okay." Liz said, trying not to laugh.

"And whatever happened is... over now?" Alex asked, worried.

"It is totally over." Liz assured him.

"Okay." Alex said, smiling. Liz laughed.

"Okay." Liz repeated, smiling. It was at that moment that the Principle walked in, leading Deputy Hanson. Liz's stomach turned to ice.

"There she is." The Principle said, pointing to Liz.

"Ms. Parker, the Sheriff needs to ask you some questions." Deputy Hanson said, and Liz got to her feet reluctantly. He drove her down to the Sherriff's Department and then lead her into Valenti's office. She didn't have to wait long before Valenti joined her, carrying a manilla folder.

"Afternoon Ms. Parker. Your father said it would be all right if I talked to you. I'm sorry to have to show you these." Valenti said, tossing a set of photos onto the desk. She pulled them toward her. They were photos of a body with a silver handprint on the chest. The date in the corner said 1959.

"This man was found dead, no apparent cause of death. Except that. What do you make of that mark?" Valenti said, watching her carefully.

"I have never seen anything like that before." Liz told him calmly, lying through her teeth. Like hell was she putting Michael at risk.

"Kyle said he saw a similar mark on your stomach." Valenti told her.

"It was paint. Maria and I were messing around with some costume paint for the crash." Liz replied, meeting his gaze.

"You just said you'd never seen anything like this before." He pointed out.

"Sherriff, it was on my stomach. It was _upside down_, it was _paint_. What does art gone wrong have to do with a 40 year old photo of a murder victim?" Liz asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm sure you're telling the truth, but I'm gonna need to see for myself Liz." He said. Liz didn't even miss a beat, after last night's debacle, she'd done the smart thing and covered it with foundation that morning. That way she could say it had washed off in the shower.

"Sherriff, what does this have to do with anything?" Liz asked, suspicious.

"Liz, please?" Valenti said, sighing. Liz rolled her eyes and stood, yanking her shirt over her midriff to show him golden brown skin, no handprint whatsoever.

"The mark faded on the corpse too." Valenti mused and Liz frowned.

"Sherriff, it was _paint_. It washed off in the _shower_, y'know, like paint is _supposed_ to. What is this about?" Liz pressed. Valenti ignored her.

"What do you know about a kid named Max Evans?" He asked. Liz blinked. _What?_

"Max Evans?" Liz asked, confused. What was he on about? It was Michael who had healed her, not Max.

"Mmmm Hmmm…" The Sherriff hummed in agreement. Liz blinked, dazed.

"Um...I don't really know him all that well." She told him the truth. Sure, he was in her bio class, and she now knew him to be an alien. But actually know him? She barely knew his last name.

"Was he one of the kids at the Crashdown that day?" Valenti asked.

"No." Liz lied coolly. The Sherriff raised his eyebrow.

"I see." He said.

"Can I go home now sheriff?" Liz asked, thoroughly irritated. Valenti pulled out a book bag and put it on top of his desk. It was the same book bag that she had put her uniform from the day before in last night.

"Just one more thing. Somebody turned in this book bag, it is your isn't it?" Valenti asked, Liz frowned.

* * *

As soon as Liz was gone, Valenti waved a government agent into his office. He'd called and left a message the night before regarding the incident in the Crashdown. Unfortunately for him, the Agent wasn't very impressed.

"A shot was fired, the girl went down, yet there's no bullet hole in the dress. I'm telling you, something strange is going on. Eye witnesses say that the girl was shot." Valenti insisted. The unnamed Agent stood up and placed Liz's uniform in his briefcase.

"What are you doing?" Valenti demanded.

"I have a flying saucer sighting in Phoenix. An accountant in Barstow who thinks he's Jesus. Both cases are more solid than this. Have this checked out at the lab; call me sheriff, if you ever have anything... real." The sneer in his voice was audible. If it wasn't for the fact that his job require he checked out these claims, he would have tossed the dress in the bin outside.

"Listen, you guys told me to call you if I saw anything. Well, my son saw that handprint." Valenti told him.

"I'm sure he did." The Agent said dully.

"What happens now?" Valenti asked.

"Have the lab check out the dress. I'm gonna handle this case in the proper manner without getting to personal. I suggest you do the same." The Agent said, turning to leave the office.

"I'm not walkin' away from this. I'm gonna be a part of this investigation." Valenti declared. The Agent turned back, hand still resting on the door handle, and looked at Valenti.

"Sheriff, do you know what everyone used to call your father? Sergeant Martian. You don't wanna end up like him." He told Valenti.

"Agent Stevens, I was 8 years old when my father discovered that corpse, my whole life I thought he was as crazy as everyone else did. Crazy to believe. Now I'm not so sure." Valenti pressed. Agent Stevens turned back to the door.

"Thank you Sheriff. Your work is done now, we'll take it from here." He said, and then left.

* * *

The next afternoon, at school, Liz cornered Max and pulled him into the empty art room.

"I need to know the truth Max. I need to know, everything. Or I'll - I'm just gonna go to Valenti and I'm gonna tell him everything I know." Liz said, putting on her best Poker Face. Everybody knew that Max was the easier one to talk to. Michael just clammed up when anybody tried to talk to him.

"Okay." Max caved instantly. It wasn't his fault that he had an uber crush on her or that he'd willingly tear the world apart to make her smile.

"Okay." Liz agreed, surprised that he'd given in so easily. She pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket and began to read off her questions.

"Okay. All right. Here we go. Where did you come from?" She read the first question. Max blinked.

"I don't know. When the ship crashed I wasn't born yet." He answered her honestly.

"So there was a crash?" Liz asked. Max tilted his head to the side.

"All I know is it wasn't a weather balloon that fell that night."

"The ship crashed in 1947, your 16?" Liz looked puzzled as she tried to figure it out.

"We were in some kind of incubation pods." Max elaborated.

"Uhuh… So, by 'We', do you mean just you and Michael? Are there any others?" Liz asked, deviating from her list.

"Isabel is also...uh..." He admitted guiltily.

"Okay, well that, that does make sense, her being your sister… Um, what powers do you have?" She carried on down the list.

"We can connect with people, as uh, you apparently know. We can manipulate molecular structures, and... we can..." Max trailed off, unsure of how to explain the rest of it.

"Wait, what does that mean?" Liz cut him off. _Manipulate molecular structures?_ Max walked over to where an intricate clay sculpture of a man's face stood on a table. He passed his hand down the front of it, wiping it blank, and then raised his hand up again to revert it to normal… well, he tried to change it back. Somewhere along the line he messed up the expression and made it look like it was frowning… Uh oh. Max winced, and Liz had to fight to keep a straight face.

"That's, uh, that's how Michael healed you." Max told her.

"Can you do that too? Uh, Heal, I mean?" She was really getting into the whole Q and A session.

"Um, no, not really." He admitted. Liz nodded, taking it in.

"Max, who else knows this?" She frowned.

"No one." He replied.

"What about your parents?" She asked.

"We don't tell anyone. We sorta think our lives depend on it." Max said.

"So when he healed me, he risked all of this getting out didn't he?" Liz said, already having guessed the answer.

"Yeah." Max confirmed with a weak smile.

"Why?" Liz asked, actually curious. Why _had_ he risked himself to save her?

"He said it was because he didn't think you deserved to die." Max told her. Liz smiled.

"Um Max, Valenti showed me this photo of a corpse. A murder victim. It had the same silver handprint on its chest." Liz explained.

"That can't be." Max gaped, staring at her in disbelief.

"The photo was marked 1959." She said quietly.

"That's impossible." Max reiterated, sounding strangled.

"Kyle saw the handprint on my stomach and Valenti somehow found my waitress uniform. Now, there's no bullet in it, but I can't be sure about traces. He just asked me if you were in the cafe during the shooting. Max, he suspects you. I don't know why, but it's you that he's focusing on, like he's just forgotten that Michael was there too." Liz told him, honestly worried for them.

"Max?" Liz asked, but he didn't look at her and turned to leave.

"I have to go." He said, heading out of the door.

"Max wait, go where? Where are you going? Max wait! Max!" Liz ran out into the hall after him, but he easily disappeared into the crowd.

He didn't stop running until he reached the Jeep, and then sped off to find Michael, and give the 411. A few minutes later, he was off back home to find Isabel. It was time to leave. He moved through the house as quickly as possible, and flung open Isabel's door. She was lying on her bed, clad in a metallic space-style outfit, one leg in the air as she pulled on the laces of her boot.

"Forget the festival. It's time to leave." Max told her. Isabel glowered at him and leant back again to finish the ties on her boots. _Now_ he wanted to run. She packed a bag quickly, nothing flashy, only what she'd need, and joined him in his room. They went out through the window and tossed their bags in the back of the Jeep. It didn't take long to get to Michael's, and he was out the door in a flash, sliding into the back of the jeep.

"Where's your stuff?" Isabel asked him, Michael shot her a look.

"I'm wearin' it." He told her. Max pulled away from the kerb and took a left, making for the main road. As they went, he explained what Liz had told him.

"So is this picture what we're seeing is there's more of us?" Michael asked as they drove down the main road.

"One more, at least there was in 1959." Max confirmed, thinking back to the photo Liz had told him about earlier.

"Well then there's hope. I mean if we can find him, he can tell us where we came from, what we are-" Michael asked, almost excited, but Isabel cut him off.

"Michael calm down, we had one potential relative 40 years ago, all we know about him is he was a potential killer." She told him. Michael sat back in his seat, bummed.

* * *

Liz sat at home on her bed, feet tucked underneath her as she flipped through her textbooks. She hadn't seen Michael, Max or Isabel all day. Were they even still in Roswell? She turned the page, not really seeing the words. What was going on? Her bedroom door opened and Maria walked in, dressed in green and coated in sparkly glitter.

"Before I go to this idiotic crash festival I want to know everything. And if you don't tell me the truth right now. I'm going to go to Valenti myself and tell him everything I know." Maria bemoaned. Liz looked up at her.

"What do you know?" Liz asked, not ready to reveal anything by mistake.

"Well...uh, I-I know that Michael was in the diner that day, and I know that he went up to you when you were shot and like, did something to you. And I know that the one person in the world that I thought I could completely trust is lying to me." Maria said all at once, like a dam bursting. Liz sighed. It wasn't much, but it was enough.

"You have to promise me that you are not going to flip out." Liz told her, looking her in the eye. Maria shrugged.

"Flip out? Hey, it's me." She pointed out. Liz told her. Maria flipped out. She ran downstairs and out the door, screaming her head off the entire way.

"Maria!" Liz shouted, running after her. It took half an hour for her to calm Maria down and convince her to drive them to the Crash Bash. Even then, Maria babbled incessantly. It was as if there was no 'Off Switch'.

"Liz, Liz what happened to you? You were on this whole like, valedictorian path. You were on your way to be like, this world renowned scientist and I was gonna be your wacky friend. I can't be a wacky friend to someone who's already whacky! It'd be like repetitious..." Maria ranted, going 90-to-nothing.

"Maria you're babbling." Liz told her.

"I think I've earned the right to babble, all right so just deal with it." Maria snapped back, just as Max drove the jeep past them in the opposite direction. Liz let out a squeal.

"Oh my God Maria that's them! Cut a U-ie!" Liz exclaimed, and Maria nearly did a double-take.

"Cut a U-ie?" She asked, checking she'd heard her best friend correctly.

"Maria!" Liz cried, frustrated. They were losing them!

"Who are you? I mean..." Maria was cut off when Liz grabbed a hold of the wheel, and forced her to spin 180 degrees.

"Oh my God, you're a crazy person." Maria yelped, trying to straighten the car again.

"Maria I am not! Please, just catch them!" Liz insisted, worried for her new friends… friend… not-friend? Whatever Michael was to her.

"Catch them? Liz, we're in a Jetta." Maria exclaimed, doing her best. Up ahead, Max caught sight of Valenti's truck and pulled into an alleyway to avoid being seen. Maria followed, blocking him in before he had the chance to reverse.

"Great." Isabel moaned ad Liz and Maria climbed out of the Jetta. The three aliens imitated them, and they walked toward each other.

"What are they doing here? No, don't tell me there's three." Maria started to babble again.

"Well..." Liz dragged it out. Michael was going to be _so_ mad with her.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Maria moaned, trying not to retch.

"Maria knows." Liz admitted apologetically, and Michael stared at her.

"Unbelievable." He hissed. Gone was the boy who had let down his walls with her the night before, and in his place was the angry, loud-mouthed Michael Guerin that everybody else saw.

"Look, I promise I won't tell anyone." Maria swore, terrified. Michael moved toward them, and Maria let out a little shriek, before ducking behind Liz.

"Get your car out of the way, _now_." Michael growled at them. Liz, bless her, stood her ground.

"I really don't think that you should try to leave. It's just gonna show people that you're guilty." Liz said, hoping to prevent him from leaving.

"Guilty of what? Saving your life?" Michael demanded angrily. Liz sucked in a breath. Fear really did do a number on people.

"Michael..." Max tried. It was actually rather pathetic.

"Look, I think I have an idea here. If we can just all work together here maybe we can throw Valenti off." Liz told them.

"We're not together. Our lives are at stake, not yours. Now move your car." Michael spat out. Maria trembled, but didn't move from where she hid behind Liz.

"Michael, this can't last forever. This secret; and I don't want it to." Max told him. Michael stated to pace like an animal in a cage.

"Look I can't change what happened. But if you run, Valenti is gonna know it's you. You'll be proving it for him. Michael, I owe you my _life._ Let me help you." Liz said. Michael looked away.

"She's right." Max told him, conveniently closing his ears for the last bit.

"I should've known you'd side with her." Isabel groaned. This school-boy crush that Max had on her was getting old, really fast.

"Isabel I'm not on anyone's side all right." Max tried to defend himself.

"Get on a side Max because time is running out." She shot back, irritated.

"She should move her car. I'm turning myself into Valenti." Max decided. There was a beat, and then:

"What? Why?"

"Because he thinks that I'm the one who saved Liz." Max told them. Michael glowered at him.

"Max, you said we were leaving." He wasn't about to leave his best friend behind.

"Max I can't leave without you." Isabel said, scared. They stood together, as a group of five, in silence. Finally Isabel drew in a deep breath, and turned to Liz.

"What's your idea?" Isabel asked her, resigned.

* * *

Liz stood outside Kyle's house, waiting for him to open the door. The plan hinged on him and his dorky costume. She needed a double.

"I waited for you for an hour and a half." Kyle told her grumpily.

"Kyle, I know I've been acting like a real jerk and, I'm sorry." Liz said, tilting her head down, and scuffing the ground with the toe of her shoe. She looked up at him, creating the dread effect known as puppy-dog eyes and smiled.

"Liz we don't even have to go to the crash." Kyle told her, wondering if she was trying to tell him that she hadn't really wanted to go.

"Kyle it is gonna be great okay." Liz smiled at him, and then leant in to kiss him.

"I'm gonna meet you in front of the podium in half an hour, right?" Liz decided.

"Right. Half an hour." Kyle repeated, feeling a little put out.

"Yeah." Liz agreed perkily. Once he shut the door, she hid behind a tree and dialed Max's cell number.

"We're got half an hour." She told him.

"Got it. Well..." Max answered from where he sat in the jeep, a few blocks over. He hung up and drove off to meet her. As he did so, he looked across to Michael who sat in the passenger seat.

"It won't work." Michael shook his head. They should have booked it while they could.

* * *

Isabel had gone ahead with Maria to the festival to set things up. They left the Jetta in the parking lot to scout around. No sign of Valenti yet. _Yet_. They made another lap of the event before Valenti showed up to park his truck. Quickly, they hurried back to the lot, careful not to be noticed by him. On their way they passed a guy dressed in suit.

"Nice mask Alex." Isabel said, knowing who it was instinctively. Maria's head whipped around instantly. What? _How_?

"Isabel, hey. Maria." Alex grinned as he saw them.

"Hey." Maria replied, still feeling a sense of shock.

"Uh, nice cones." Alex said to Isabel. She ignored him, following Maria to the parking lot. Everything hinged on this ridiculous plan of Liz's.

"Come on roll!" Isabel commanded, giving the Jetta a good shove.

"OK, I'm rolling." Maria replied.

"Roll!" Isabel told her.

"I'm rolling! Okay?" Maria snapped, frustrated.

"Right that's better. Keys?" Isabel straightened up, dusted off her hands and held out her hand for the keys which Maria reluctantly handed over.

"Okay, I know my mom's car doesn't look like much, but, not destroying it is the key to me and my mother's relationship okay?" Maria told her, praying that the Jetta wouldn't suffer too much damage.

"Whatever." Isabel said flippantly and got ready. Maria didn't look very happy. They didn't have much time, Valenti was already there, and he was looking for Max.

"Where is he?" Valenti asked, looking around at the crowd.

"There. What did this kid do Jim?" Deputy Hanson asked, pointing out Max, who was stood amongst the crowd, eating a corndog.

"I'll take it from here Owen." Valenti said, refusing to explain. He walked up to Max.

"I have some questions for you." Valenti told him.

"What kind of questions?" Max asked, tossing the corndog stick into a nearby bin.

"Where you at the CrashDown Cafe the day of the shooting?" Valenti tested.

"Yes." Max admitted. He had been there. So had lots of people.

"What did you do to Liz Parker?" Valenti snarled at him.

"I didn't do anything to her." Max protested. It was the truth. _He_ hadn't done _anything_.

"I don't believe that." Valenti said, handcuffing Max.

"Aren't you going to read me my rights?" Max asked, wincing as the cuffs bit into his wrists.

"Do you have any?" Valenti quipped. He kinda had a point. There was a shout and a thump from two lanes over, and then Isabel put the handbrake on the car and bolted while Maria lay on the ground, acting like she'd just been hit. Liz pushed past the two tourists from the café, and turned a corner.

"Maria!" Liz shouted, running to where her friend lay on the ground. They had to make this believable. Michael, dressed up in costume, came out of nowhere, crouched beside Maria for a moment, and then took off.

"What's going on? What are you, what are you doing?" Alex asked, chasing after Liz. He came to a stop as he saw Maria on the ground.

"What happened here?" Valenti demanded, rushing over. He sucked in a breath as he caught sight of the silver handprint on her chest.

"Are you okay?" Valenti asked.

"Yeah, I think so." Maria said, trying to act dazed.

"There he goes. Sheriff, there he is. There's the guy that went up to her that's him." Deputy Hanson shouted, pointing at Michael, who rounded a corner and disappeared.

"Watch the kid." Valenti told Hanson, taking off after the disguised Michael. He lost him in the crowd, but kept searching before seeing somebody wearing the same suit. He pushed onwards and clapped his hand down on the partiers shoulder… only for it to turn out to be Kyle.

"Dad, scared the hell outta me." Kyle said, catching his breath. He looked around.

"You seen Liz around? She was supposed to meet me here like 15 minutes ago." He asked. Valenti shook his head.

"No." Valenti said, confused.

"Mmmmmkay." Kyle hummed, and then went back to looking for Liz. Valenti went to find Max, it didn't take long as he was still with Deputy Hanson. He motioned for Hanson to leave, and once he was gone, slammed Max into the side of a portable trailer.

"You think you're a smart guy don't you?" Valenti baited, trying to get a rise out of Max.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Max protested.

"Don't play games with me Mr. Evans, this is paint." Valenti snarled, holding up his hand to reveal the paint he'd found on Maria. Somewhere along the line, he'd forgotten that Liz had said her handprint had been paint too.

"You went up to Liz Parker in that cafe and you did something to her, and I need to know what it was." Valenti hissed. Max baulked.

"I had a hamburger, when the gun went off I ran away. Did I break the law? Sheriff are you arresting me?" Max spoke the truth, really hoping for a negative answer. It had been Michael who saved Liz, not that he would tell Valenti that. Let him ruin the credibility of his claim.

"No, your parents would have you out in an hour. Let me tell you something. I'm gonna find out what the truth is. You can count on it. You're a real smart guy Max. Well, so am I." Valenti told him in a undertone before walking away.

* * *

"Is everybody ready! 8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. Blastoff! Yeah!" The announcer reeled off the countdown and hooted in glee as the cable holding the little spacecraft released, and the decent began. The crowd shouted and screamed excitedly as it rushed down the zip line and crashed into the ground, erupting into flames and sending the burning 'alien' bodies flying.

"YEAH!" The announcer hollered. Isabel, Max and Michael stood by a metal fence, watching the flames mournfully. Their eyes hollow.

"Hey." Max said, as always, the first to notice her. Isabel looked around at her, and then returned to watching the flames.

"Hey." Liz replied, looking concerned. There was a beat, and then:

"I'm sorry." Liz said, getting their attention.

"What?" Isabel asked, confused. Liz nodded at the burning wreck.

"I said I'm sorry. I can't even begin to imagine how you must feel about this." Liz told her genuinely. Isabel stared at her for a moment, before her expression softened.

"Thankyou." Isabel finally said, her voice sounded choked. Max took his sister's hand and squeezed it gently. They stood in silence for a minute more.

"I'll guess we'll see you at school." Isabel decided, and Liz smiled. Isabel walked off, back to where Max had parked the Jeep.

"Goodbye." Liz waved as Max followed his sister, looking back over his shoulder as if he wanted to say something. Michael was still stood transfixed, gripping the chain link fence tightly.

"Michael?" Liz asked, getting his attention. He glanced over to her, before looking back at the wreckage.

"I never got to thank you, for saving my life." Liz said softly. Michael looked up in surprise.

"Thank you." She said, and he smiled. An actual smile this time.

"You're welcome." He said, and before he could move away, she lunged forward, dragging him into a hug.

"No, really. _Thankyou._" Michael smiled, closing his eyes and leaning into the hug. This was actually kinda nice.

* * *

_"It's September 24th, I'm Liz Parker and five days ago I died. But then the really amazing thing happened. I came to life."_

* * *

**30.03.2013**

**AN:**

**1) Yes, yes, I know. I'm a bad person for starting yet _another_ Fic, without updating my other ones. Deal with it. So – this one is different from my other Parallel's, because now, instead of doing an insert, I'm changing events. In this, Michael saves Liz, not Max, and thus events begin to change. Slowly at first, and then bigger as time goes on.**

**2) Email Sophia Conrad at: _Aspenwilder at Gmail dot com_**

**3) Transcripts found here: _ www dot crashdown dot com/episodes/season1 dot php_**

**4)** **In reference to the gunshot wound, I really wanted to be realistic, but to not have to go into crazy too much detail. A few years back, I read the Da Vinci Code, which did explain how a gunshot wound to the stomach was an extremely painful death, and as such, I felt the need to stress the damage done. In the TV Show, they don't make such a big fuss about it and there isn't much blood, but in real life, she would have died before the ambulance even got there. The source I used for my info was this one:**_**www dot mitchpileggi dot net/Deep_Background/resources/medical/injuries dot htm**_


	2. Chapter 2: Suspicious Substitute

**Ripple Effect**

**Sophia Conrad**

**Chapter 2: Suspicious Substitute**

* * *

_"Okay, I don't care if he saved your life or not, that guy creeps me out."_

- _Maria DeLuca_

* * *

_"September 27. I'm Liz Parker and I will never look at the stars in the sky the same way again. I'll never look at anything the same way again. How can I? Eight days ago, I was bleeding out on the Crashdown's floor. I was dying. But then he came. He saved me, and now I can never look at Michael Guerin the same way again either."_

* * *

Max Evans was asleep. Full on, snoring, drooling, snuffling and twitching asleep. That was, until he heard an odd noise. Somebody was trying to come through his window. He opened his eyes and swiped his baseball bat from by his bed before slowly getting up. He swung the bat at the intruder, and…

"Hold it there! Don't…hit me." Michael put his hands up to defend himself.

"Argument with Hank?" Max asked, bat still raised.

"Couldn't sleep." Michael admitted. Max put down the bat and bent to pick up a rolled up sleeping bag and tossed it at his friend. Max climbed back into bed and lay down again. He sat back up when Michael didn't move.

"Hey, I was sleeping." Max complained. Michael looked away, huffing with irritation.

"Amazing." Michael grumbled.

"What's amazing?" Max asked him, warily.

"That you can sleep when the key to our entire existence is out there." Michael growled.

"Michael…" Max trailed off, clearly annoyed. It _was_ late.

"Max, listen… that picture Valenti showed Liz means there's someone else out there. Someone who was here in 1959. That means he was here when it crashed. He knows where we come from, he knows who we are, and he knows why we're here. Maybe he knows how to get back." Michael felt like he was going to burst from all his questions.

"Michael, I know how you feel. Believe me, I want to know too. But the sheriff has that picture… so we'll never see it. I mean, that would be impossible, right? Michael?" Max said, but Michael wasn't listening. He was already plotting on how to get the picture from Valenti's office.

* * *

The next morning, Liz prepared to work the Sunday morning rush while Maria babbled incessantly in her ear.

"…I mean, what do we even know about these people? Nothing. How do we know that they're not 3 feet tall, green, and slimy?" Maria ranted, tying the silver strings of her apron.

"I guess we don't." Liz replied, not really wanting to discuss the subject.

"And you know what else doesn't, like, particularly please me? These powers. How do we know they can't just like wiggle their noses and poof us into oblivion?" Maria continued her rant, oblivious to her friends' discomfort.

"I guess we don't." Liz repeated her mind elsewhere as she fixed her antennae.

"Okay, you're being like so casual about this, I want to choke you! Liz, we're dealing with alie-" Maria was cut off by Liz slapping a hand over her mouth as Jose, the fry cook, walked into the back.

"Can you please not say that word in public?" Liz begged. Maria glowered at her. As they walked through the door, and out into the restaurant, Maria began her spiel again.

"The point is that we don't know anything about these…" Here she paused, looking for a euphemism.

"…Czechoslovakians. Are they good Czechoslovakians? Bad Czechoslovakians? We don't know. Are they just random Czechoslovakians? For all we know, they don't have their… passports."

"Who's Czechoslovakian?" Alex asked them, popping up from the booth next to them. The girls jumped.

"Hey!" Maria greeted.

"Hey!" Liz repeated. Both were immediately nervous.

"Hey… so, who's Czechoslovakian?" Alex asked, more than a little confused. The girls panicked.

"The new kid at school." Liz said at the same time as Maria said:

"The guy at the hardware store." Alex said at them suspiciously.

"The new kid at school who works at the hardware store." Liz put both their explanations together.

"Exactly." Maria confirmed.

"Oh. What about him?" Alex said, not sure who this new kid was.

"Nothing" They chimed simultaneously.

"Fantastic." Alex grumped, and the girls walked away from him to the end of the bar where they perched on the stools, waiting for the customers.

"Czechoslovakian, 9 o'clock." Maria warned her, and Liz turned to see Michael peering through the front window. She smiled and gave a little wave; in return he locked eyes with her. The corner of his mouth quirked upwards, and he turned to leave.

"Okay, I don't care if he saved your life or not, that guy creeps me out." Maria told her. Liz smiled again and rolled her eyes. He wasn't _that_ bad.

* * *

_"The thing about these… Czechoslovakians, is that they have the most amazing eyes. Isabel has the ability to make men weak at the knees by batting hers and Max has the majority of the teenage girls in Roswell going gaga over his, and Michael… _

_Michael's eyes are like looking into deep pools of amber colored whiskey. Most days they're impossibly hard, but when he lets his guard down, it's like watching the last days of summer flash past, all over again."_

Geometry on a Monday morning was never fun. It was even worse when the one person you wanted to see most, had decided to ditch class. Liz sighed, scanning the room again before turning back to chatting with her friends. She was studiously ignoring the hole that Max was attempting to burn into her with his eyes.

"Okay, that is totally not Mr. Singer." Vivian Collins said, watching a tall blonde woman walk into the room as the bell rang.

"Hi. I'm Kathleen Topolsky. I'll be substituting for Mr. Singer who's out sick for a couple of days." The blonde woman declared, putting her bag down on the desk.

"I hope he's seriously ill." Tim Bartley muttered to Max.

"So… this is the infamous Roswell, New Mexico." Ms. Topolsky said, leaning against the desk.

"Before we get started, let me just ask: Does anyone here actually believe in aliens?" Ms. Topolsky asked, making everybody laugh. Everybody save Max and Liz who shared a look.

"Okay, let's take roll. Uh... Bartley." Ms. Topolsky read from the list in her hand.

"Here" Tim said, eyeing Ms. Topolsky.

"Collins." Ms. Topolsky asked.

"Here" Vivian replied.

"Evans." Max looked up as she called his name.

"Here"

"Guerin… Michael Guerin? Is he here today? Does anyone know where Michael is?" Ms. Topolsky asked, looking around the room. Everybody turned to Max, who fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Evans, right? Max Evans?" Ms. Topolsky asked, looking down at him over her glasses.

"Yeah?" Max asked nervously.

"Do you know where Michael Guerin is?" Ms. Topolsky asked, and Max faltered under the woman's keen gaze. He turned to Liz for help.

"Miss Parker?" Ms. Topolsky asked, following Max's gaze.

"Uh… Michael's not really into Geometry." Liz said, smiling abashedly and making everybody laugh again. Ms. Ms. Topolsky eyed her curiously, attention peaked.

"He's not into it. I guess I can understand that, it is pretty uninspiring stuff." Ms. Topolsky agreed, and finished the roll sheet.

"Now. Let's open our books to page 228."

* * *

"Hi." Liz said, as she walked out of Geometry and smack-bang into Max.

"Hi. How's it going?" Max smiled at her, and her heart sank a little. She was beginning to think that maybe Maria was right, and that he had a crush on her.

"Good, um, you know, things are just… things are just normal, you know? Completely normal." Liz answered. They both knew it was a semi-lie. _Nothing_ had been normal recently.

"Good." Max nodded.

"Um, was that weird?" Liz said, fidgeting with the strap of her bag as they walked down the hall.

"What?" Max replied, more than a little confused.

"That substitute just asked all of those questions about Michael. What was that about?" Liz asked, clearly wound up.

"I'm sure she was just taking attendance." Max said, a wry smile dancing on his face. She really _was_ set on protecting Michael.

"Right." Liz sucked in a breath, her fingers twitching with nervous energy.

"Liz, don't worry about it. No one's suspicious of Michael. It's me they're after." Max told her, feeling a twinge in his heart. If only she could be this worried about him. Liz nodded, inhaling shakily.

"Okay." She agreed as Isabel walked up to them.

"Hi Liz!" Isabel chirped.

"Hi." Liz replied, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Hey Izzie." Max greeted his sister with a hug.

"We should go." Isabel told him, tugging on his arm. Ever the obedient brother, he followed, leaving Liz standing in the hallway.

* * *

Down town, Valenti walked into the Sherriff's Department, brown lunch bag in hand. As he walked through the halls, he passed a strange man, dressed in a black suit, sitting on a fold-out chair.

"Good morning!" The suit-wearing man greeted Valenti.

"Good morning." Valenti replied, more than a little confused. He walked over to Deputy Hanson who stood behind the front desk.

"Who is that?" Valenti asked, gesturing to the man in a suit.

"FBI. Agent Hart." Deputy Hanson explained.

"Who's he here to talk to?" Valenti wanted to know.

"No one, as far as I can tell." The Deputy answered.

"Well, what's he doing here?" Valenti demanded. Hanson shrugged.

"Doesn't appear to be doing anything. He's just been sitting there since 7 am." Deputy Hanson told him.

"Deputy Hanson, did you ask him what he's doing here?" Valenti asked, clearly exasperated.

"Yes sir, he said that he was here on assignment and that we should go about our business as usual." Deputy Hanson replied.

"Oh, so your response to that was just… all right." Valenti said in an annoyed tone, clearly implying that he had done the wrong thing. Valenti walked over to Agent Hart.

"Agent Hart, I'm Sheriff Valenti. Can I see some identification, please?" Valenti locked eyes with the FBI agent.

"Sorry about the intrusion. I'm here on assignment, Sheriff. You should just go about business-" Agent began, but was cut off by Valenti.

"As usual. Yeah, I heard. See, my problem with that is that having a federal agent sitting smack dab in the middle of my station house isn't exactly business as usual."

"My orders are to not leave this chair until I'm relieved." Agent Hart told him.

"Uh-huh. Agent Hart, the FBI has no jurisdiction here. Now I'm going to ask you to please get up and leave. And take your folding chair with you." Valenti stared at him, and eventually, Agent Hart got up and left, taking his folding chair with him.

* * *

"It's impossible, right. That she's not who she says she is?" Liz asked her friend, fidgeting nervously as they walked through the High school, thankful for the respite of their lunch hour.

"Well, no one is who they say they are. I mean, what do you mean exactly?" Maia said facetiously. Then she stopped to think about it.

"Forget it." Liz shook her head and sighed.

"What, that she's a spy?" Maria asked, suppressing a giggle.

"No, don't be ridiculous." Liz tried to wave away her fears.

"'Cause that kind of stuff happens, you know." Maria told her, with all the seriousness of a poker player.

"Now you're being crazy. Like that could ever happen to us." Liz scoffed at the thought or at least tried too. There was a niggling feeling at the back of her mind that said to trust nobody.

"Well think about it. She takes attendance. What substitute teacher takes attendance? I mean, God, the whole thing is so Roswellian. I'm telling you Liz, she's been sent here." Maria declared, completely thrilled.

"Why would she be sent here?" Liz shot Maria a look.

"To find the Czechoslovakians." Maria said, completely immersed in what Liz called her 'Conspiracy-mode'.

"Sniff some cedar oil, Maria." Liz told her friend, who rolled her eyes.

"Which makes me feel that much more about what I already thought before you told me about this, which is that we should definitely, definitely, definitely tell Alex." Maria fussed, and Liz gave her a sharp look.

"No. Look, Maria, we mustn't tell anyone... ever. Ever." She warned her friend, a harsh edge to her voice.

"Mustn't? When have you ever said "mustn't"?" Maria demanded. When Liz didn't answer, Maria began a new tirade.

"Look, we need someone with a little perspective. Okay, there's all this stuff happening, and it's dangerous. The other day the Sheriff asked me all these questions. And now we have this Ms. Topolsky person poking around. You know, that's what they do. They send special government task forces. Alien hunters. And suddenly, we're like, accessories to Czechoslovakians. We need Alex in on this." She insisted. Liz gave her a pointed look, and then gestured to where Alex was trying to impress a group of girls with his double-jointed tricks.

"Admittedly, he's not James Bond, but he's all we've got right now." Maria decided. She spoke too soon.

"What, so now I'm a freak?" Alex asked the girls who had been watching him. They giggled in return, and Liz shot Maria yet _another_ look. They walked back inside the building and down the hall to Liz's locker where she pulled out the books she'd need for her next class. The bell rang, and the hallways quickly filled.

"Kyle Valenti headed this way." Maria suddenly exclaimed, and Liz froze.

"Like, in this general direction, or like, towards me?" She asked. Maria looked around her friend to check.

"Like, the latter." She told Liz.

"Oh God." Liz tried not to panic.

"What are you gonna say?" Maria demanded. Liz inhaled deeply.

"I don't even know if there's anything to say. I mean, I saw him over the summer, and it was casual. I'm sure now that we're back in school, he's just thinking of me as a summer fling." She said.

"Liz!" Kyle shouted as he made his way over.

"Kyle!" Liz said, faking a smile as she spun to face him. They were just friends, right?

"How's my girl?" Kyle asked, and Liz cringed. Or maybe not.

"See ya!" Maria said gleefully, in an 'I'd-feel-sorry-for-you-but-I'm-enjoying-this-way- too-much' tone and bolting. Liz glared after her.

"Hey." Liz greeted her boyfriend.

"How's it going?" Kyle asked, tugging on the strap of his backpack.

"Good. You know, I'm just pretty loaded down with all this school stuff." Liz told him, leaning against her locker.

"Yeah I know. You take all that stuff pretty seriously." Kyle said, rolling his eyes.

"Yeah." Liz admitted, pushing away from the lockers.

"Right. Okay." Kyle blinked and took a moment to recollect his thoughts.

"All right." Liz said, still fake-smiling, and turned to walk away.

"Listen Liz, I think it's important that we are honest with each other. I was talking with Tommy Hilligan, and he agrees with me." Kyle said, stopping for a moment. When she didn't reply, he went on.

"A person should be on time, Liz. I know we left things casual, and I understand that, but you did say that you would meet me at the Crash Festival. I just feel that if you care about a person, which I do, then you should be on time. The truth is if you were just some girl and you stiffed me like you did, I would walk in a second, but you're not-" Kyle said, but Liz wasn't listening.

"Kyle, I really want to talk to you right now, I do, but it's just not a good time. I'm sorry, I gotta go. I'm sorry." Liz cut him off, having just noticed Ms. Topolsky coming out of the Registrar's office with a stack of files. Before Kyle could reply, she'd darted off after Ms. Topolsky and managed to engineer an _accidental_ collision. The files went flying.

"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry about…" Liz gushed, trailing off appropriately.

"Parker, Liz." Ms. Topolsky said, recognizing her from Geometry.

"Yeah." Liz said, a little freaked.

"Photographic memory." Ms. Topolsky explained.

"Wow, that's interesting. I've never met anyone with a photographic memory before." Liz babbled sweetly, trying to project a harmless air.

"Helps in my line of work." Ms. Topolsky told her, not elaborating on what exactly it was that she did.

"Here, let me help you with that." Liz bent down to help her, as she did, catching sight of one of the files.

"That's okay." Topolsky said, hurriedly taking back the file from her. She smiled at Liz, and then walked away. Liz stood there for a while longer, staring after her. What was she doing with _Michael's_ file?

* * *

Once school was done for the day, Liz bolted. She got Michael's address from the school's front office under the guise of tutoring him, and hurried over. He lived in a trailer park, so it took her a little while to track down which allotment was his, but soon enough, she was knocking on his door. An older man opened the door, and Liz stalled.

"Hi, um, I'm looking for Michael. Guerin. Maybe I made a mistake?" She said, almost praying that she had. The man in front of her didn't look very nice. Unfortunately, she hadn't gotten the wrong place.

"Micky!" The man shouted over his shoulder before returning to his spot on the couch. Liz held her breath for a moment and the Michael appeared, blinking at her in surprise. She smiled at him nervously.

"Let's go outside. C'mon." Michael led her away from the trailer to a place where they could sit and talk. Once they were out of earshot, Liz wasted no time in telling Michael all about Topolsky.

"You're sure it was my records, it was definitely my records?" He asked, a bad feeling settling in the pit of his stomach.

"Yeah." Liz told him.

"She asked about me in class?" Michael double-checked.

"Oh, well she was just taking attendance and so when you weren't there, she asked the class if anyone knew you." Liz said, pointing out that Topolsky had been taking role at the time.

"So she's looking for me." Michael decided.

"I don't know what's going on, Michael. I just thought I should tell you." Liz said, watching him carefully. She took his hand, and when he didn't jerk away, squeezed it gently.

"Thanks." Michael murmured, smiling at her and squeezing back.

"Sure." Liz replied, happy to help. They sat there in silence for a while longer before Michael let out a sigh.

"Listen, if Hank insulted you or anything…" Michael trailed off, not wanting her to feel put out for coming to see him.

"Oh no, no." Liz assured him, and Michael nodded.

"You kind of have to ignore him." He told her. Liz looked down at the ground.

"Sorry... to just show up here." She said and Michael shrugged.

"It's where I live. Thanks though." Liz smiled at him, and Michael felt his stomach flip. _Damn it._

* * *

That evening, Valenti sat in his office, arguing with a man over the phone.

"Yeah, I know it's late. But he sent an agent into my building. I think I've got a right to an immediate explanation…" Valenti demanded into the phone. He paused for a second.

"No, I won't call back… No, tomorrow is not acceptable… Yeah, I'm sorry about it too. Listen… No, excuse me…" Valenti snapped. The phone went dead.

"Hello? Hello?" Valenti hung up, making a disgusted noise. Phone back on the hook, Valenti opened a locked drawer and pulled out an old-looking manila file that contained the photos of the corpse marked with the silver-handprint. The back of the file had a small paper pocket attached to it. Valenti ripped the pouch from the folder and opened it to reveal a key which he promptly hid in the top of his thermos. He stuffed the thermos in his bag, and then hid the bag in his desk drawer, before leaving.

As he drove past a mini-mart, Michael walked out carrying a large paper bag under his arm. He took one look at Valenti's shrinking tail-lights and headed for the Sherriff's station, studying the signs on the wall before navigating the hallways.

"Can I help you?" Deputy Hanson asked. Michael turned around to face him, and switched on the charm.

"Good evening, Deputy. I'm selling candies for charity." Michael greeted, with a perfect salesman smile.

"Charity?" Deputy Hanson repeated, not entirely sure that he'd heard him right.

"Yeah, I'm on the committee to re-open Westlake Orphanage, Deputy… Hanson." He paused to make sure he had gotten the name right.

"You can be a part of helping to find homes for dozens of children in need. Single boxes are six dollars apiece, and I feel obliged to strongly recommend the peanut clusters. They _are_ good." Michael reeled off his pre-prepared speech. It seemed believable enough.

"Well, I'm kind of trying to lay off the sweets right now." Deputy Hanson motioned to his stomach.

"Understood Deputy. If it's all right, I'll just take a look to see who else is around." Michael nodded respectfully, and then made to walk down the hall he knew to contain Valenti's office.

"There's nobody up that corridor." Deputy Hanson said, stopping him in his tracks.

"Um, what if I came back tomorrow night?" Michael asked, not having to feign determination for his cause.

"Well, it's usually pretty empty at night." Deputy Hanson told him.

"Well, thanks for your help, Deputy." Michael grinned, put the box back in the bag and turned to leave, only to bump into another deputy. He swallowed, Deputy Blackwood wasn't known for his friendly demeanor.

"What are you doing here?" Deputy Blackwood demanded. Michael held up his cover and smiled.

"I'm selling candies for charity." He answered. Deputy Blackwood glared at him.

"Not in here, you're not." He said sternly.

"Yes sir." Michael did the smart thing, and scarpered. He ignored the urge to find Liz, but instead went to find Max and Isabel.

* * *

Michael sat in the Evans' living room, sincerely regretting not following his instincts as Isabel read him the riot act.

"Are you insane?!" Isabel demanded shrilly.

"I didn't just wander in, all right? I had a cover story." Michael snapped, defending himself. He knew he should have gone to Liz instead.

"And what was your cover story?" Max questioned, trying not to get angry.

"I was selling candies for charity." Michael said, and then held out the box.

"Peanut cluster?"

"And they bought it?" Max asked him.

"No, they all seemed to be on a diet." Michael snarked at him.

"Not the candy, Einstein, the story." Isabel hissed at him, and Michael felt the need to bolt.

"Yeah, they bought the story." Michael told her, and then did a double take as he finally noticed her outfit.

"Why are you wearing that?" He asked. Isabel frowned.

"Because, Michael, I have a date…with a guy…that I like. In fact, I like my whole life here. In fact, I have a date next Friday that I'm hoping I won't have to miss because I'm running from the law." She told him. Michael's eyebrows went up, but he tactfully changed the subject.

"You two, the point is this. That file has got to be in Valenti's office. All right? He leaves for the day at 7:30. There's no one else in the entire wing of the Sheriff's station. We go in, we find the file, we get the info, we put the file back-" Michael started his spiel, but Max, ever the leader felt the need to take charge.

"So how do we break in? Hypothetically." Max asked, cutting him off.

"The window. It's got a lock on it. Nothing we can't handle." Michael told him.

"Alarm system?" Max asked, noting Isabel's warning look.

"Hypothetically." He added quickly.

"Piece of cake. Even you could deactivate it." Michael retorted. Isabel glared at him.

"Max, don't humor him. I can't believe you're even considering this." Isabel sighed, clearly distressed.

"I just want to know how feasible the plan is…" Max said, and quailed under her harsh gaze.

"Which it's not…feasible, that is. It's not feasible, Michael." He told Michael.

"This is what we've been waiting for our entire lives. I mean this is the first time we've ever had any clue that might tell us who we are. We don't have a choice." Michael insisted, disappointed that his pseudo-siblings weren't interested. He opened his mouth to try again, but just as he did, the front door opened. The adult Evans' were back.

"Hey!" Mr. Evans shouted, rustling what sounded like a carrier bag as he walked into the house.

"Anybody here?"

"And with government agents after us, we had better get our asses in gear, don't you think?" Michael added, deadpanning. Maybe _that_ would get them moving.

"Agents?" Max lifted an eyebrow. What was he on about now?

"What are you talking about?" Isabel asked, seriously confused.

"Talk to Liz." Michael told her, ignoring Max rolling his eyes as Mr. and Mrs. Evans came into the room.

"You guys hungry? We got pizza." Mr. Evans announced, turning to Isabel.

"Hey honey, you look…pretty." He wasn't really sure he wanted her to look so nice around teenage boys.

"Oh Michael… hi." Mrs. Evans said, finally noticing him.

"Hey, I was just leaving." Michael told her.

"We got plenty of pizza." Mr. Evans offered, but Michael smiled and declined, already backing away.

"My dad's cooking. Thanks." Michael lied through his teeth. He made for the door. They might not be interested, but he had a station to break into. Mrs. Evans stared after him a moment longer, before refocusing on her own children.

"Well, I'm starved. C'mon guys. Plates, napkins, let's eat!"

* * *

The next morning, Liz sat in her Geometry class, trying to think; Ms. Topolsky's voice drifting in and out of focus.

"...and we know that the sum of A, B, and C equals 360 degrees." Ms. Topolsky said, writing out the equation on the chalkboard as she spoke.

"What is she talking about?" Liz murmured, seriously confused.

"Ms. Parker?" Ms. Topolsky asked, having turned to face her. Liz sat there in silence for a moment.

"180." She said finally.

"I'm sorry?" Ms. Topolsky asked her.

"It's a triangle. You know… the sum of the parts would be 180 degrees." Liz reminded her, eliciting laughter from the class. Ms. Topolsky smiled and laughed herself.

"Right. Right, of course. Equals 180 degrees" Ms. Topolsky erased and rewrote the degrees on the chalk board, continuing with the lesson. She didn't see Max and Liz sharing a look.

After class, she waited for him, but Max didn't seem all that worried.

"…but she pulled other students' records." Max protested.

"Well, yeah, but the point is that she pulled Michael's." Liz insisted.

"How many others were there?" He asked, thinking fast.

"I don't know, maybe 10." Liz shook her head, trying to remember.

"Well, 10's a lot." Max said hopefully.

"Okay it might have only been 5. I'm not sure how many there were." Liz frowned. If only _she_ had a photographic memory.

"You can't just show up at Michael's and get him riled up like that. You don't know him. He's not big into 'let's go over our options.' He acts on things." Max scolded her. Liz fixed him with a look.

"Look, I'm sorry; I just thought that Michael was in danger and that I'd better tell him." She held her ground.

"In danger of what?" Max asked, more than a little peeved.

"I don't know. I have no idea. Look, I am just saying that if there is a spy among us, don't you think it behooves us to do something about it?" Liz pointed out, enjoying the use of her SAT words.

"Spy?" Max asked.

"Well yeah." Liz admitted.

"Liz…" Max protested.

"No, Max, that sort of thing exists, doesn't it? There's like special branches of the government… alien hunters, you know, that sort of thing." Liz insisted.

"So you think Ms. Ms. Topolsky is an alien hunter?" Max asked skeptically.

"When you say it like that, it sounds ridiculous." Liz tilted her head to the side, and Max fixed her with a stern look.

"Liz, thank you, you know, for looking out for us. But we have to go on with life as it was before this happened. And we have to be careful now. All of us. You, too." Max reminded her, before walking away. As he did so, he caught sight of Topolsky talking with Sherriff Valenti and another man. Maybe Liz was right?

* * *

**_Meet me in the 2nd Floor Eraser Room 6th Period, Max_**

"The Eraser room, huh?" Maria teased, sitting on the bathroom countertop as she read out the note Liz had found in her locker. When Liz didn't reply, she leant in close.

"Liz, do you know what the 2nd floor eraser room means?" She asked.

"Of course I know what it means…" Liz said, touching up her mascara. She resealed the tube.

"What does it mean?" Liz asked, and turned to her friend. Maria rolled her eyes and hopped off the countertop.

"It's where Greg Coleman gave Marlene Garcia that hickey the size of a softball. It's where Richie Roher and Amanda Lourdes consummated everything…" Maria waved her hands to emphasize things.

"Okay, Maria, you know what? You're just making this into something it's not." Liz told her.

"Liz, I don't think you should do this. Okay? I mean, we don't know what can happen. I mean, the guy's friend touched you and you saw into his soul. How do we know what happens if this one kisses you? How do we know what it is to be kissed by a Czechoslovakian? You don't." Maria was off in la-la land again.

"Okay, Maria, no one is kissing anyone here. I mean, seriously – I'm not interested in Max. At all. So, even if you _are_ right, and he _does_ like me, _nothing_ will be happening." Liz told her. If she was going to be kissing _anyone_, it sure as hell wasn't going to be Max Evans.

"Oh my God, it's not just kissing that goes on in the Eraser Room." Maria exclaimed, and Liz flushed at the thought. Liz shook her head and resealed the mascara tube, tucking it away in her bag.

"She's got that right." Vivian said happily, washing her hands and then exiting the room.

"The Eraser Room does two things: cleans erasers and takes our innocence. Do you know what I mean by "takes our innocence," Liz? The Eraser Room has taken some of the best of us." Maria insisted, shaking her friends' shoulders.

"Maria. I said nothing, that means no kissing, no fumbling, no… consummating. Nothing." Liz slung her bag over her shoulder and walked out, leaving Maria to pout.

* * *

He had been looking over a repot when Agent Stevens arrived bearing the bad news, looking back, it was lucky he'd already removed the key the previous evening.

"Good afternoon, Sheriff." Agent Stevens said, walking into Valenti's office.

"Agent Stevens." Valenti said, surprised.

"You don't write, you don't call. I'm sorry about kicking junior out of here the other day. He had no jurisdiction. No offense." He shot the agent an unapologetic look.

"None taken." Agent Stevens replied, looking equally unapologetic.

"So, what'd you guys find on that waitress uniform?" Valenti asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Well several things actually, sheriff: Salt, coffee grains, some dead skin cells, a few strands of hair. A normal thing for a waitress's uniform. No blood." Agent Stevens said, his face was set in an impenetrable poker glare.

"We've wasted enough tax-payer dollars to try to find something that isn't out there. No space ship landed here in 1947. No aliens are currently residing in Roswell, New Mexico. I've been given the authority by the governor to search the premises to remove any information pertaining to UFOs, alien sightings, and other alleged paranormal occurrences in this county. This thing is over, Sheriff." Valenti glowered at him, but Agent Stevens wouldn't back down.

"Let's get on with it, guys." Agent Stevens called to his minions out in the hallway. They walked into the office carrying filing boxes and made their way to the cabinets.

"You found something on that dress. Something strange." Valenti said, eyeing him.

"Why else would you care enough to remove my files? Wouldn't that be a waste of tax-payer dollars?" The sarcastic lilt in the Sherriff's voice was clear as day.

"It's locked." One of the minions told Agent Stevens, having tried the cabinet and not been able to open it. Valenti reluctantly handed over the key.

"This won't take long. Thank you, Sheriff." Agent Stevens assured him.

"Make yourself at home. I'm going to lunch." Valenti snapped, leaving the office with his thermos, which still had the mysterious key hidden inside it. Using a pair of binoculars, Michael watched the whole conversation, and after Valenti left, focused on the agents who were removing the files.

* * *

"So, um, this is the infamous Eraser Room." Liz said, looking around.

"I've never been here before." She added for good measure.

"I just thought we should be somewhere private." Max said, shutting the door behind them.

"Right." Liz agreed quietly, turning the lock.

"You were right about Ms. Topolsky. She isn't who she appears to be." Max told her.

"Oh." Liz said, surprised. She'd thought that Max was still firmly entrenched in the Egyptian river.

"She's been using this office. I thought we should find out why she's here." Max explained, gesturing to a grill in the wall. Through the holes in it, they could see a small office.

"Yeah." Liz mused, staring through at the empty office.

"She has off 6th and 7th period, so we might be here a while." Max said, and suddenly, Liz had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach. How long was he expecting for them to be in there? They sat in silence for a long while, before Liz finally lost her patience.

"Okay, I'm still confused. If you crash-landed in 1947, are you really 16 or are you like 52 in a 16-year-old's body? Or do you guys just age differently? I mean, is like 1 alien year equal to 3 human years?" She asked, the scientist in her showing its colors. Max stared at her for a moment.

"You've thought about this a lot, haven't you?" He finally asked.

"Kind of." Liz admitted, looking away.

"Well, we know we came out of the pods in 1989. We just don't know how long we were there. When we came out we looked like 6 year olds." He told her. Liz paused in thought, biting her lip, before a strange expression overtook her face.

"So were you like green?" She said, fidgeting.

"Green?" Max's eyes went wide. _What?_

"Before you took human form, were you 3 feet tall and green and slimy?" Liz asked, before looking away and laughing from sheer embarrassment.

"You know, I'm very sorry for asking you that; it's Maria's question." She admitted, still refusing to look at him.

"No, we just always looked like this. Except for the, uh, third eye." He replied, casual as can be. He bent down, pretending to tie his shoelace, and Liz couldn't help but peer at the back of his head curiously. Max looked up and caught her, making her flush.

"I'm kidding!" Max exclaimed, laughingly.

"Yeah, I knew you were kidding." Liz said, trying to save face. She laughed, and shoved him gently.

"You're such a jerk!" She exclaimed, and they both began to laugh harder.

"So uh, you really have no idea where you're from, like what planet, or who your people are besides Michael and Isabel?" She asked, ever curious.

"No idea." Max nodded.

"Well, that must be kind of freeing in a way." Liz pondered.

"Freeing?" Max repeated blankly.

"Um, well just with me, you know, my parents own the Crashdown, so everyone in town knows who I am. Like, if I so much as get a haircut, everyone seems to notice, and they have to give me their opinion on it. It kind of makes life claustrophobic." She ranted.

"It's like, you know, how am I ever supposed to become whoever it is that I'm gonna become while everyone is looking? You know?" She sighed, and leant against the wall.

"Sometimes I wish I could just be invisible." She admitted, and Max's eyes wavered for a moment.

"Sometimes I wish I didn't have to be so invisible." He told her, and she looked up sharply. Oops. She opened her mouth to apologize for her misstep when they heard the sound of a door opening. They turned in time to see Ms. Topolsky walking through the door with a strange man.

"Okay, I looked though all of them, and this is where I wanted to start." Ms. Topolsky was saying.

"Michael Guerin. Have you interviewed him yet?" The man with her asked.

"He hasn't set foot in school since I've been here. But if Muhammad doesn't come to the mountain…" She trailed off**.**

"Do you want me to go talk to him?" Topolsky's companion offered.

"No, I'll do it. Just check and make sure the address is correct." Ms. Topolsky told him.

"You got it." Her assistant confirmed, before turning and leaving the office. Max and Liz shared a horrified look. They waited until Topolsky was gone before bolting. Max drove her to the Crashdown so she could beg off her shift with Maria. As they pulled up outside the café, Michael appeared and walked up to Max.

"Michael, something's up." Max began, but Michael cut him off.

"They're taking things out of the Sheriff's office." He said. Liz's eyes went wide.

"What?" Max asked, his words echoing her thoughts.

"I don't know. Some guys in suits. So we gotta get in there. It's now or never, Max. Liz opened her mouth, but before she could say anything, Max turned to her and said:

"Five minutes."

"Right" Liz nodded, and with a glance to Michael, went inside. Immediately, noise washed over her.

"You know, I'd steer you to this side of the menu." Maria was saying to a customer, before looking up and catching sight of Liz.

"Oh excuse me." Maria hurried around the countertop and over to Liz.

"Where have you been" She demanded.

"I need you to cover for me." Liz told her.

"When?" Maria asked.

"Tonight." Liz said, biting her lip.

"Oh, no. It's a zoo." Maria told her. Almost as if to emphasize her statement, a customer demanded Maria's attention.

"Excuse me; I've been waiting for my hot fudge blast off for like 20 minutes." A customer demanded and Maria looked homicidal.

"Yeah, like you need 80 grams of fat." She muttered under her breath before returning to Liz.

"Okay, so one trip to the eraser room and you're like above working? Go get your uniform on, Madonna. The masses are demanding alien-themed, greasy food and by God, it's our job to serve it to them." She told her best friend.

"No look, Maria, this is really important. I promise I will tell you everything later." She swore and Maria's solidity began to waver.

"It's for _Michael_." Liz added, and Maria caved, knowing that they really _did_ owe him. She nodded reluctantly and Liz hugged her.

"You're the best, but right now I've gotta go." She babbled and tried to rush off, only to be stopped by Alex.

"Okay, I want some answers, all right? Because first of all, there are rumors going around that last week you were shot here in the cafe. And then at the crash festival Maria was seemingly run over by a car, but then she wasn't. And every time I walk up to you two, you go silent or make up some ridiculous story about Czechoslovakia, which is a country that has not existed for 10 years. So I want the truth, and I want it now." How Alex managed it all in one breath was anybody's guess, but Liz was more concerned with coming up with a cover story.

"Alex, the reason that we keep on changing the subject is…" She began, and then looked to Maria for help.

"Cramps. We have cramps, Alex." Maria said quickly.

"Yeah, and we didn't even want to talk about it in front of you because we thought it would make you feel really uncomfortable." Liz continued.

"But if you want really want to know, we can tell you." Maria offered.

"In really excruciating detail." Liz nodded seriously. Alex pulled a face.

"No! I'm eating." He exclaimed, and walked back to his seat looking thoroughly grossed out.

"Thank you." Liz grasped Maria's hands and squeezed them, before letting go to hug her briefly and then scampering off after Max who was waiting in the parking lot. Liz tried not to look overly keen when she caught sight of Michael still standing near Max. Resisting the urge to go and greet him, she waited patiently by the Jeep, feeling like a trained dog.

"Michael, it's important to me, too." Max was saying, trying to calm his friend down.

"All you want to do is protect what you've got here in Roswell." Michael snarled at him. Max was taken aback for a moment.

"That's right, I do." He recovered himself, sneaking a glance at Liz who had begun to tap her foot.

"Have you ever thought what it's like here for me, Max?" Michael asked, wanting to join Liz more than anything. She was far better company than Captain Coward.

"Of course I have." Max said, and this time they both eyed the small brunette. Max sighed.

"Look, the woman who pulled your records, she's on her way to your place." He warned.

"What?" Michael asked, looking furious.

"Just stay away from there tonight. Isabel is waiting for you at our house. Just go there and wait." His tone booked no arguments, but since when had that stopped Michael.

"Wait for her to find me?" Michael demanded, causing Max to glare at him.

"Don't do anything stupid." Max waned. Michael snorted and stalked off, frustrated with his friend. Where did Max get off giving orders? Who had died and made him king? Furious with the lovestruck twit, Michael didn't bother to look back. Had he, he would have seen Liz watching him in earnest, a distinct look of longing on her face.

Reluctantly, Liz climbed into the passenger seat of the Jeep and Max started the engine, preparing to pull out. As he did, Kyle pulled up nearby, and caught sight of them.

"Liz!" Kyle shouted, but she didn't hear him as Max had already pulled out and onto the road, speeding off into the night. Kyle got back into his own car and followed them until they turned off into the trailer park where Michael lived and parked in a shadow to watch his trailer. Kyle pulled up a few feet behind them.

"So, how did you end up where you ended up, and Michael ended up _here_?" Liz nodded at the silver trailer, a mournful note in her voice.

"It's a long story." Max said lowly.

"Is his foster father always, um, so…" She trailed off, not quite sure how to describe the angry man she had met the day before.

"Tough? Yeah." Max filled in for her. It wasn't particularly the word that she would have chosen, but it would do. As they spoke, Ms. Topolsky drove up and parked outside of the trailer Michael lived in. Liz leant closer to Max in order to get a better view, unknowingly upsetting her boyfriend. A few moments later, the ring that she had been fiddling with clattered to the floor of the jeep.

"My ring!" Liz cried, and bent down to reach it, creating the image of her being bent over Max's lap.

"Oh my God!" Kyle yelped, unnoticed by the people he was tailing. It really did look like she was going down on Max.

"Liz! Get up! Liz…" Kyle hissed, finally he climbed out of his car and scampered over to where the Jeep. The occupants of which, were focused on Ms. Topolsky who had just introduced herself to Michael's foster father.

_"Sorry to bother you. I'm looking for Michael." _

"Liz!" Kyle hissed, moving to stand by the Jeep.

"Kyle!" Liz almost hit her head on the steering wheel as she tried to jerk backwards.

"Hey, Max." Kyle greeted, trying not to lose his temper.

"Hey, Kyle." Max whispered.

"What's going on?" Kyle crouched down, wanting to know what was happening.

"Nothing." Liz whispered, shaking her head.

"Why are you whispering?" Kyle asked her.

"We're just, uh, waiting for Michael. We're gonna go, uh…" Liz trailed off, searching for a plausible excuse.

"Bowl." Max finally said and Liz nodded her agreement.

"Why are you whispering?" Kyle asked again.

"We're going bowling!" Liz repeated their cover story.

"Liz, what were you doing down there?" Kyle asked, looking at where Liz was still positioned, leaning over Max's lap. She blinked, momentarily confused.

"Oh, I dropped my ring." Liz whispered an explanation.

"Why are you whispering?" Kyle asked, and Liz tried to come up with a suitable answer that wasn't: 'Oh, it's because we're spying on a substitute teacher who seems unusually interested in Michael, and we're worried because he's an alien.'

"Why don't I give you my number? Could you have Michael call me?" Liz could hear Topolsky saying to Hank.

"Bowling?" Kyle squawked, not believing them. As he did so, Ms. Topolsky finished speaking with Hank.

"Liz!" Max warned, watching Topolsky who had turned to go back to her car.

"What?" Kyle insisted, still not aware of what was going on.

"Kyle!" Liz growled, thoroughly impatient with her boyfriend.

"What are you doing?" Kyle demanded, not bothering to whisper. Unfortunately he was loud enough for Ms. Topolsky to hear. She looked in their direction and Max ducked, Kyle didn't have to as he was already crouched down. Liz made to follow, but wasn't quick enough, allowing Ms. Topolsky to catch a glimpse of her.

* * *

Finally free of Kyle, Max had driven Liz back to the Crashdown, and was walking her to the front door.

"Maybe when this all blows over, you and I could get lunch or something?" Max suggested. Liz looked up at him.

"Lunch?" She repeated, surprised.

"Yeah, if you want." Max said, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Sure. Why not." Liz said in a lackluster tone.

"Okay, great. It's a date-no! It's not a date…it's… a lunch." Max fumbled with his words, causing Liz to give him an odd look.

"Lunch... Right. I better get home." She told him, and he nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, me too." He turned his head to see Isabel standing where he had parked the Jeep, waving frantically at him.

"Good night, Liz." Max smiled shyly, and Liz had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. Could the guy _be_ any more obvious?

"Good night." She replied, heading for her door. She'd never admit it out loud, but she was hoping that Michael would make another visit that night. Max turned to see Isabel waiting for him by the Jeep, and he made his way over to her.

"Michael's AWOL." Isabel told him. Well _that_ explained why they couldn't find him. They sprinted for the Jeep, and Max started its engine, pulling out onto the road as quickly as possible.

"You know the guy doesn't know how to control himself." Isabel huffed as they sped down the road toward the station.

"I know." Max grumbled, tightening his hands on the wheel. They pulled up alongside the building, and caught sight of the open window grate. They were too late, Michael was already inside, and rifling through the Sherriff's files. Just then, Valenti pulled up outside the front door, causing Max to inhale sharply. He and Isabel stared at the Sherriff as he walked into the station.

"You get Michael out of there. I'll keep Valenti out of his office as long as I can." Isabel said, and Max quickly jumped out of the Jeep.

"Right." He agreed, and sprinted for the gutter that ran alongside the window.

In the lobby of the station house, Deputy Hanson looked up from where he was working the night desk just in time to see Valenti enter.

"Forget something?" Deputy Hanson asked him cheerfully.

"Papers." Valenti replied, making for his office. Isabel appeared out of nowhere.

"Sheriff? I'm so glad someone's here. I have a flat tire, and I am so not mechanical." She gushed. Valenti turned to her, only to be greeted by Deputy Blackwood.

"Sheriff. You're off duty, Sheriff. I'd be happy to help the young lady out." Deputy Blackwood offered.

"It's okay deputy. I've got it." Valenti thanked him, and turned to follow Isabel out the door when a noise echoed down the hallway. It sounded like it was coming from his office. The three of them, turned in the direction of the noise, Isabel fidgeting with her hair nervously. What were the boys _doing_ in there? Valenti motioned for Isabel to stay put while he and Deputy Blackwood advanced toward his office.

"Michael, let's go, now! Valenti's back! Let's go! Michael!" Michael ignored him, picking up the key only to be thrown backwards as an intense vision swept over him. Images of a white dome in a desert bombarded him.

"Let's go, let's go!" Max hissed. The scrambled out of the office and Michael resealed the window lock behind them. Together they leapt from the sill into the dustbin. When Valenti entered the office a moment later, he found nothing, and with the bars on the window still secure, gave it up as a noise from outside.

"Told you it was no big deal." Michael told Max as they resurfaced, and climbed out of the dumpster. Max glared at him, brushing a burger wrapping off of his shoulder. They scarpered off around a corner and headed back to where Michael lived.

Isabel was still around the front of the building, waiting for Valenti to finish up with the flat tire he was fixing. Finally, he straightened up.

"There you go. You're all set Miss Evans." He told her, wiping his hands on his jeans. Isabel shot him a winning grin and climbed into the old Jeep.

"Thanks, thanks a lot." She said, fishing in her purse for the keys.

"Isabel, right?" Valenti asked.

"Yeah" Isabel said, smiling.

"You're out past the curfew." Valenti noted.

"Well, I had a flat tire." Isabel reminded him, still smiling.

"Right. Where's Max tonight?" Valenti asked. Isabel gave him an odd look.

"Oh. I have no idea. I'm just his sister, not his keeper." Isabel told him and smiled again, before starting the engine. She waved, and drove off into the night.

Later, she sat with Max and Michael outside Michael's trailer, the three of them starring at the key. Max reached out, and took it from Michael, hoping for a vision. There was none. Impatient, Isabel snatched it away, and started, as if she'd received a vision.

"What did you see?" Michael asked her, excited.

"Ricky Martin in the shower." Isabel deadpanned, still holding the key. Michael scowled and snatched the key from her, walking off back to his trailer.

"Hey." Max shouted, and went after him. Michael turned back.

"Sorry about before. Maybe I don't really know what it's like for you." Max said. Michael locked eyes with him.

"The thing I've realized is the fact that my life basically sucks is a good thing. It's easier. We always have to be able to leave, pack a suitcase, and go somewhere else. Maybe 10 years from now, maybe a week from now, maybe tomorrow. So my advice? Don't get in too deep, Maximillian. It only makes us weaker." Michael told him. What Max didn't know, was that Michael was also speaking to himself, trying to remind himself that no matter how nice Liz Parker was, he couldn't get involved.

* * *

The next afternoon, Liz was finishing up after a tutoring session she'd been doing for a freshman. She'd just put her books away in her locker when Mrs. Topolsky appeared.

"Miss Parker!" Ms. Ms. Topolsky exclaimed happily. Liz stopped in her tracks and held back a groan. She turned around and smiled reluctantly.

"I have some questions for you about Michael Guerin. Your friend Michael is in serious trouble. I'm not a substitute teacher. I saw you at Michael's house last night. I'm the new guidance counselor." Ms. Topolsky said. Liz didn't buy it.

"Guidance counselor?" She murmured under her breath. As _if_. Did she _look_ like she'd been born yesterday?

"And Michael is a boy who's in serious danger of being expelled from this school." Ms. Topolsky continued.

"If you're really a friend, you'll talk to him. You'll have him come in and meet with me. Soon. Are you with me Miss Parker?" She said in an almost patronizing tone. Liz swallowed hard.

"I'll tell him." Liz agreed. Ms. Topolsky smiled.

"Thank you." Ms. Topolsky said, and walked away. Liz stood there in silence, and out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Kyle staring at her. She turned and left to find Michael. She might as well pass on the _message_.

* * *

_"Ever since I found out about Max and Michael and Isabel, I've been thinking a lot about secrets. That for everyone who has a secret, there's someone else who needs to know what that secret is…_

_How sometimes secrets keep people from feeling like they belong, and sometimes secrets make you feel like you do belong. And now even I, Liz Parker, the smallest of small town girls with the simplest of lives- even I have something to hide."_

* * *

**08.04.2013**

**AN:**

**1) So, another chapter down. Chapter 3 should hopefully be up within the week, and we'll be looking at a few more substantial adjustments. Chapter 4 will be centred a bit more around Liz and Michael, with a little of Moping Max thrown in. - Happy days! I honestly found it hard to like Max after Season 2, and spent the whole time yelling at Liz because she just put up with it.**

**2) Email Sophia Conrad at: _Aspenwilder at Gmail dot com_**

**3) Transcripts found here: _www dot__ crashdown dot com_/episodes/season1 dot php**


	3. Chapter 3: Finding Our Path

**Ripple Effect**

**Sophia Conrad**

**Chapter 3: Finding Our Path**

* * *

_"Sometimes it's hard to move forward with your future until you figure out your past."_

- _Kathleen Topolsky_

* * *

It was a beautiful sunny morning, perfect for a drive… if only the drive didn't end in school. Maria drove down the long, twisty-windy road, with Christiana Aguilera blaring away on the radio and her windows down. She squinted through her sunglasses and slowed to a stop by the side of the road where Isabel Evans stood, watching her Jeep be hooked up to a tow truck.

"Of course." Isabel groaned. It would be her luck that the only person she could ask for a lift was terrified of/disgusted by her.

"Going home?" Maria quipped, eyeing the rocket on top of the tow truck. She bit back a snigger.

"Um, I mean um, do you need a ride?" She asked, once she had adjusted her expression to be more polite. Isabel eyed her contemplatively for a moment before climbing into the Jetta.

"Doesn't this thing have any air conditioning?" Isabel asked, shifting in her seat.

"Yeah, it's on all the way." Maria said, prompting Isabel to use her powers to turn it up.

"Oh my God! What are you doing?" Maria screeched, eyes wide with panic.

"I'm just making it more comfortable in here!" Isabel told her, a hurt look on her face, dropping her hand. The air con returned to normal.

"Don't do that in my car!" Maria snapped at her, already feeling on edge.

"Whatever. What year is this thing?" Isabel asked, looking rather frustrated.

"It's a '92, and it's never been towed either." Maria shot back.

"Well the sound system is pathetic." Isabel grumbled, holding her hand over the radio. The sound immediately increased.

"Oh my God!" Maria screamed, swerving the car out of sheer hysteria. Isabel dropped her hand and the volume returned to normal.

"I'm just trying to help you out." Isabel told her, eyeing the keychain attached to the ignition point, clearly curious.

"Oh, uh the keychain. My mother makes them. I'll tell her to stop." Maria promised, following Isabel's gaze. Isabel didn't reply, choosing instead to look out of the window.

"My mother does stupid things too." She told Maria.

"She does?" Maria asked, curious.

"Don't all mothers?" Isabel pointed out.

"Yeah, I guess. Does she know?" Maria asked.

"That she does stupid things?" Isabel shot her an odd look.

"No that, uh, you and Max are, like, you know, _different_." Maria said, trying to be tactful.

"You mean horrible disgusting creatures from outer space who sneak into your room at night and perform excruciating experiments?" Isabel deadpanned, causing Maria to stare at her in shock. In those few, crucial seconds, the Jetta slammed into the back of another car.

"Oh my god! Oh my God!" Maria began to hyperventilate.

"Oh my God." Isabel agreed, imitating the shorter girl. Things only got worse when the owner of the vehicle in front got out.

"Ladies." Sherriff Valenti greeted. Maria whimpered, her Mom was going to kill her.

* * *

"What will the future bring?" Topolsky asked, pacing across the back of the room as she spoke. Alex changed the slides for her.

"In ancient times man looked to the heavens to answer this question. Today our methods are a little more scientific, more personal. What will the future bring for you. As the millennium nears all eyes are on you. There are so many opportunities out there for young people today. And I want to help you discover exactly what's right for you. Because the most important ingredient for success is always preparation. You can't become something until you can dream it first. What will the future bring for you?" Her speech was pretty, and definitely well planned an polished, but quite frankly – the students couldn't care less.

"Let me just make it easy for her: Tasty Freeze, Denny's, Gas World, Prison." Maria quipped, pointing to different classmates as she spoke. Liz smiled, and looked around the room, finally locking eyes with Michael. He'd shown up a school a lot more often in the last week.

"That's where I come in, getting to know your dreams. So over the next few days you will all be coming in to my office for some interviews. A series of questions which will indicate where your strengths lie. And as you know I'm new here, so most importantly this will give me a chance to find out who you are."

* * *

_"Listening to Topolsky I suddenly realized that it wasn't my future I was worried about at all. My future was filled with all kinds of promise, if I could just get through my present."_

* * *

After Topolsky's presentation, Liz and Maria walked through the school together.

"Okay, so you rear ended Sheriff Valenti, are you okay?" Liz asked, doing her best to remain calm.

"Yeah it was a love tap, it was nothing I can't handle." Maria told her.

"Okay, are you sure?" Liz tested.

"Yeah, minor fender bender. Minor damage, and you know what? It probably would have never happened if Miss Isabel hadn't been messing with my head." At this, Liz's head whipped around. _What?_

"Wait, why was she playing with your head?" Liz demanded.

"She was like, deliberately trying to freak me out." Maria replied, flapping her hands.

"How?" Liz asked, eyes narrowed.

"Okay, she like, made my air conditioner blow like a hurricane." Maria explained.

"Maria. What did you do to make her do that?" Liz scolded, knowing that Isabel wouldn't have done it for no reason. Maria certainly hadn't been the most understanding of people lately.

"What did I do?" Maria squeaked, displeased.

"Hey look listen, I was there to extend myself. You know, I gave her a lift. Trying to reach out give her that old I come in peace thing. Look, Liz, it like, takes two people to tango. You know? And how can I tango with the girl if she's going around creeping me out." Liz sighed.

"Okay Maria, look, I will talk to Max and I will have him talk to Isabel. But the important thing is for us to stay in control. Okay?" She asked, hoping for a positive answer.

"Hey I am in control. You know, I am like, in control." Maria swore as they split up for class.

* * *

"Why don't you start by telling me what your dream job would be?" Topolsky had started each opening interview with this question.

"I want to be Brad Pitt's love slave." Vivian Collins had announced cheerfully.

"Uh, Houston Astro's Left field." Kyle's reply had been instantaneous.

"Lead guitar for Metallica." A boy with long hair, a dazed expression, and poor hygiene had answered. Topolsky had resisted wrinkling her nose; he was the epitome of a stereotypical stoner.

"That's an interesting question. Uh, do you always ask it first?" Typical Alex had answered the question with a question.

"Supermodel." Isabel replied without hesitation.

"I'm not really big on planning ahead." Michael had told her, making the blonde woman's eyebrow twitch.

"Molecular biologist." Liz had told her, and then added:

"Or a dream, dream, dream job would be head of molecular biology research at Harvard."

"That's fantastic. Now what job do you think you'll actually have in ten years?" Topolsky had said mechanically after each response.

"Cheese factory I guess." Vivian's' face had dropped.

"Wherever life takes me." Michael skirted the question and leant back in his chair.

"Houston Astro's left field." Kyle told her without blinking.

"I usually get what I want." Isabel's tone had been rather haughty.

"Excellent follow up question. Very good technique." Alex had complimented her, once more avoiding having to answer.

"Video store. No, wait. Well, Cheese factory." The Stoner Kid finally decided.

"Molecular biologist." Liz replied, sure of her path.

"All right. Let's play a relationship game. Tell me which character in this picture is most like you, and tell me what they're doing at the park." Topolsky had said cheerfully, holding up a carton picture of a group of children.

"King of the jungle gym." Kyle had said cockily.

"I'm not really in that picture." Michael had told her. When she had asked why, he had refused to answer. '_Anti-social'_ had been written down next to his name.

"I never really played well with others." Isabel's reply was cool.

"The kid holding the umbrella for the other kids. Which one are you?" Alex had replied, still trying to psychoanalyze her.

"Probably the one behind the tree. I was sort of kidding." Max told her shyly, and then tried to retract his decision.

"No that's interesting. That's a hard place to be. I've been behind the tree myself. In college I barely left my dorm for three years." Topolsky admitted. She gave him a wry smile.

"Then I realized that I had gotten myself into this situation where I wasn't really living. I was just going through the motions, and it was really, really risky to change. To get out there in the world."

"But it was worth it." Max asked her, curious.

"Yes it was." Topolsky said, smiling.

"Coming out from behind the tree, huh?" Max repeated, looking thoughtful.

"Exactly. You start small. You say today I'm going to do one thing to get out there. Nothing big. Just one thing." Topolsky told him gently, sounding every bit the caring counselor that she was supposed to be.

"What did you do?" Max asked, hesitantly.

"Started a conversation with this guy I liked." She told him, scanning her notes before looking back at him.

"I think we're done, would you let Michael know I'd like to see him at some point this afternoon?" She asked, writing on her notepad. _'Max Evans. Has secrets.'_

Max nodded politely and left through her door as the bell rang.

* * *

Max waited, hidden from Liz's sight as he watched her talk with her friends. Topolsky had made it sound so easy earlier.

"Okay sure, so we'll talk about it later. See ya guys later. Bye." Liz waved at her friends and turned to walk around the corner, catching sight of Max as she did.

"Hey." Liz said, stopping so she didn't run into him.

"Oh Hey. So how's it going?" Max replied, pretending that he hadn't been waiting for her to come around the corner.

"Good it's going good." Liz told him, walking alongside him with measured steps.

"Good. That's good. Great." Max smiled at her, and Liz bit the inside of her cheek.

"Okay. Max is everything okay?" She asked, alert as ever.

"Yeah, I just wanted to say hi. Uh. Just, uh, stepping out from behind the tree." He said as by way of an explanation. Liz frowned.

"What tree?" She asked, confused.

"Oh, forget it. Its…"Max trailed off. They walked together for a few moments in silence.

"Uh, Max do you know about the whole Maria/Isabel thing that's going on?" Liz asked tentatively.

"Yeah, yeah, I heard." Max told her.

"Well, um I just sorta promised Maria I would mention it. See um, Isabel kinda makes Maria a little…" It was Liz's turn to trail off.

"Nervous?" Max offered, causing Liz to shake her head vigorously.

"No, no it's not nervous." She said firmly.

"Because she sometimes makes people nervous." Max pointed out, knowing his sister.

"She just said that she did things…" Liz told him, still thinking about Maria's earlier reaction.

"Things?" Max repeated.

"Yeah, you know, like things to her car. So maybe you could talk to her, so we don't let this situation get out of control?" Liz asked him.

"Right…" Max agreed, looking thoughtful.

"Okay." Liz nodded, looking a lot happier.

"Okay." Max repeated.

"You know it kinda seemed like you wanted to say something before." Liz said, before silently kicking herself.

"No." He replied.

"Okay. Bye Max." Liz darted off quickly, sighing in relief.

* * *

"That girl is just an accident waiting to happen." Isabel insisted, eyeing Maria. The three of them were sitting in the open-air section of the cafeteria together.

"Look, Isabel could you at least try and make an effort?" Max pleaded, desperate to please Liz and get into her good books. She was still giving off a rather frosty air, even now.

"No." Isabel snapped at him.

"Think about it. People see movies with aliens. Aliens killing humans. Evil aliens. Green aliens. If you keep acting this way with Maria, she's going to think that's what we are." Max pointed out, but Isabel didn't even bat an eyelid.

"Exactly. I'm telling you this evil alien thing could work for us in this situation. The way to deal with her is to make her sweat, keep her on her toes. Make her afraid of my shadow, of your shadow, of her shadow, of Michael's shadow." Isabel told him. She turned to Michael, who was staring into space and fiddling with the key he had liberated from Valenti's office.

"Right Michael?" She asked, getting his attention. He thought about it for a moment.

"Or we could just kill her." He mused, not at all serious. Unfortunately his siblings didn't seem to get the memo and both shot him odd looks, although Isabel's seemed a tad contemplative.

"Kidding." He insisted, before wither one of them could open their mouths.

"Put that key away." Max snapped, not in the least bit amused. Michael ignored him.

"You want to know, don't you? I mean you got the buck. I mean we've got this key, now what does this key open. Admit that you have to know that." Michael baited him.

"Could you stop with the key. The key means nothing." Isabel glowered at him.

"If the key means nothing then why did it give me a vision the first time I touched it?" Michael argued.

"Because your brain is warped, just a theory." Isabel replied, her words laced with sugar-sweet sarcasm.

"What do you think it means? I mean it's a key, where could it possibly lead?" Max asked his pseudo-brother, trying to keep the peace.

"I'm telling you the government cleaned out the sheriff's station and this is the key he kept from them... It's got to be something important. Maybe it belongs to the corpse from 1959." Michael told them, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Michael you're grasping at straws." Isabel dismissed the conversation, turning her gaze elsewhere.

"And I know that, but I say we follow where it takes us. I mean who knows where we'll end up. Maybe home. I mean, Maxwell, we can't let this go. We can't just hide." Michael told them, his voice filled with longing.

"I don't know." Max dragged his proverbial feet, and looked to his sister.

"One more day before she cracks. Tops." Isabel muttered, watching Maria interact with her friends.

"Just try to find something you have in common with her." Max pleaded.

"Oh please, what could I ever talk to her about?" Isabel said scathingly.

"Try something. Order some fries. Start a conversation." Max suggested, not giving up.

"No. It's impossible. She's irrational." Isabel snapped.

"She's kinda weird." Michael agreed, eyeing the blonde girl who held a stronghold in Liz's life.

* * *

"So you want to be a scientist? Wow. That's exciting." Topolsky said, smiling prettily as she began the second interview with Liz.

"Yeah." Liz replied.

"You seem very sure of yourself." Topolsky remarked.

"Well, you know, the first time I walked into a chemistry lab I just knew. There's this smell, the sulfur smell. I knew I was home." Liz told her, a smile on her face as she thought back to her first day in the lab.

"What makes you think the world of science is right for you? Other than the smell." Topolsky asked.

"Okay, the world is this incredibly mysterious place, and science is just this way of figuring it out. With science there are answers to everything. Facts. When you're conducting an experiment, you're in control of everything." Lix explained to the older woman, who nodded understanding.

"So you like to be in control." Topolsky asked, pen hovering over the paper once more.

"Of course" Liz chirped happily.

"You make a lot of plans don't you?" Topolsky remarked.

"You've got to have a plan." Liz replied promptly.

"What about taking life as it comes?" Topolsky asked.

"No." Liz shook her head. It was too dangerous to wing it.

"Sometimes you don't have a choice.' Topolsky warned her, and Liz had to control the urge to shudder. She had a bad feeling that Topolsky had just jinxed something.

* * *

That afternoon, Liz introduced her new color-coordinated chat to the employees at the Crashdown. Sad to say, they weren't as impressed as she'd hoped.

"In response to recent shift confusion I have created this color coated system so that we'll all have a clear plan. Now, like any good plan there is flexibility in it, but the important thing is, is if you need to make a change tell me and I'll make it so that nothing gets out of control." Liz explained the colorful chart that covered the white board, and then looked around the room.

"Thank you all for coming in. Any questions?" She added, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Can we go back home now?" Agnes, an elderly waitress with a cigarette asked dully.

"Yeah." Liz sighed, and the employees filed out of the room.

"Nice colors." Maria quipped, joining her.

"Thanks. Okay." Liz smiled and followed Maria to the door. Maria took one look through the glass window and quickly turned away.

"You know what? You take the front. I'm going to go do that can inventory that your father talked about." She babbled nervously.

"Maria!" Liz yelped, having had to move back quickly so her toes didn't get trodden on.

"She's out there!" Maria told her, eyes panicked.

"Who's out there?" Liz asked, confused.

"Queen Amidala!" Liz blinked, feeling rather lost. A few moments later, realization set in. _Oh._

"Okay, Maria, you've got to calm down here. You've got to control yourself." She told her blonde friend.

"I am in control. I am in control." Maria repeated the words like a mantra for a few seconds, before she cracked.

"I'm not in control Liz! Look! Let me just confide ? I live my life in constant fear of her. Okay! Moment to moment, knowing that each one could by my last. Okay, I'm sorry, it's just…" Maria trailed off as words failed her.

"No no no no. I get it, but we're just stuck with each other. You know? The five of us. For me, just try and be friendly with Isabel." Liz begged.

"Okay, sure. Great. All right. Just one big happy family." Maia agreed, unhappy as she was.

"You can do it." Liz encouraged her. Maria nodded, and took a deep breath before making a beeline for Isabel's table.

"Hi." She said to Isabel, who looked up, surprised.

"Hi." Isabel replied.

"So." Maria dragged the single syllable out, having temporarily forgotten what she was supposed to say.

"So. How about some fries" Isabel suggested, trying her hardest to take Max's advice and be nice.

"Fries. That's a great choice. Really." Maria said, nodding like a bobble head.

"Thanks." Isabel shot her a terse smiled and Maria placed the order. Once that was done, she moved behind the countertop to wipe it down, seconds later, Valenti walked in. Maria froze.

"Can I get a coke please? You do have coke, don't you?" Valenti joked, watching Maria carefully.

"Yes, yes, we do. Um… to go?" Maria fumbled around, hunting for a plastic cup.

"Sure that would be fine." Valenti said with a short grin.

"Anything else I can tell you today, Sheriff? Get you today Sheriff?" Maria shut her eyes tightly as she tried to correct her mistake.

"Anything?" She repeated when Valenti eyed her with suspicion.

"Actually I need your insurance information for that fender bender that we had." He said, causing her to let out a long sigh.

"Right." She agreed shakily.

"City regulations." He explained, and she shifted uncomfortable.

"You all right?" He asked her, concerned.

"Yes. Totally all right. Happy as a clam." Maria chirped, putting on a fake smile.

"I'm here to protect you. From anything. Do you understand?" Valenti told her, not fooled. Luckily, Liz chose that exact moment to intervene.

"Um, you know it's time for that can inventory Maria." She said, appearing out of nowhere.

"Can I ring this up for you Sheriff?" She asked brightly.

"Keep the change." Valenti told her, visibly disappointed, and handed over a five dollar bill before leaving.

* * *

That afternoon, Maria was working the Crashdown alone. Liz had long since finished her shift and disappeared off somewhere with Michael and the Jetta after swearing her to secrecy. The door jingled as Max walked in.

"Corey! Corey! Will you stop it with that thing or we're not going to the museum." One of the customers, a harried-looking mother, scolded her son. It was a futile attempt.

"Blast the Alien!" The child yelled gleefully, pointing the 'blaster' at Max.

"Liz isn't here, and if she were here, I would kill her." Maria told him, not bothering to look up. Max frowned. Where _was_ she?

"Excuse me, but there isn't anything scary in that UFO center is there? I mean, there's nothing real or anything is there?" The harried mother asked him.

"I've never really been in there, so…" Max admitted, looking to Maria for help.

"Of course not, why would you ever think something like that? There's no such thing as aliens, especially anywhere around here." Maria told the woman, laughing it off. It sounded a lot more reassuring than how she felt. She handed the woman her change and closed the till.

"That's not what it said on the menu." Corey, the small boy, said, pouting as he raised the gun again.

"Knock it off!" His mother scolded, pulling him toward the door, change in hand.

"Thank you for dining at the Crashdown." Maria called after them.

"Let's go, let's go!" The woman told her squirming son, pulling him out of the café.

"Are you okay?" Max asked her once the door shut, a concerned look on his face.

"Of course I'm okay. Don't I seem okay?" Marias said, sounding as if she were on the verge of tears.

"Well you just shortchanged her ten bucks." Max told her, wincing at the look on her face as she stopped dead.

"Oh my God! Oh my God! I, I can't leave! I'm the only one here!" Maria began to hyperventilate.

"Take it easy, I'll take it to her." Max offered the panicked girl.

"Are you sure?" Maria asked him.

"Why not?" Max shrugged his shoulders.

"Thank you so much!" Maria said, and handed the change to Max. He plodded over to the UFO center, and luckily managed to get in without paying. Down the steps he went, entering the room just as the Tour Guide was staring his speech.

"And so on July 4th 1947, after all the fireworks had been shot off, after all the pie had been eaten, they came. The evidence suggests that they had been studying us for quite some time. To what end we'll never know, but on that fateful night something went terribly wrong, and one, though some say more than one, of their alien crafts crashed onto our planet starting what was to become one of the most elaborate cover-ups mankind has ever known."

"There are eyewitness accounts from people still living in Roswell today of debris found in the desert made of strange metals and inscribed with purple hieroglyphs. There are those who on their deathbeds spoke of being present at alien autopsies, and of the threats made to their lives and the lives of their families if they ever spoke of what they saw. Imagine, ladies and gentlemen, of living with a secret so terrible that you can't even share with your loved ones for fear of their safety. I don't think anyone today is strong enough for that." He finished dramatically.

"Now are there any questions before we enter the video theater?" The Tour guide asked, leading them to the end of the displays.

"I heard that they found some aliens still alive, and that they were tortured into giving us their technology." One of the tourists called out.

"There are many theories son, many theories." The Tour Guide told him in a somber voice.

"Did they ever come back again? You know, to rescue the ones in the crash?" A second tourist asked.

"There have been sightings in this area on a regular basis since that night. You decide. Right this way." The Tour Gide said dramatically.

"What about 1959?" Max called out, taking a chance.

"Who said that?" The Tour Guide demanded, excitedly. Max stayed silent, hidden in the shadows of the dark room. The Tour Guide got a hold of himself, remembering where he was. He cleared his throat.

"Let's continue with the, uh, documentary portion of our tour. Right this way." He directed his audience into the viewing room.

"Blast the aliens!" Corey shouted, aiming the blaster at Max again. The child was surprisingly accurate.

"Corey! Do I need to get a leash?" The boys' mother scolded, finally catching up to him.

"This is yours. You left it at the café." Max said, holding out the ten dollar bill to her, she took it gratefully.

"Oh. Thank you! Let's go! We're going home. You exhaust me!" She told the boy, dragging him away.

"What do you know about 1959?" The Tour Guide demanded, appearing out of nowhere. Max jumped, and then did his best to calm himself.

"Is there something to know?" He asked cryptically, not willing to give up information needlessly. The Tour Guide shifted his weight from foot to foot and licked his lips.

"Come back tomorrow. We can talk more." He decided, looking Max in the eye.

"Hey you're blocking the screen!" One of the tourists shouted. They were actually standing in front of the projector as it turned out.

"Tomorrow. I have something you may be interested in." The Tour Guide insisted, and then bustled off. Max stood there a moment longer, and then made to leave. As he walked out of the doors, he couldn't help but overhear the ending line of the documentary that was playing.

_"The mysteries of what happened to the creatures inside the spacecraft have yet to be unraveled."_

Max resisted the urge to laugh. He knew what had happened, he just wished he knew why.

* * *

That evening, Max sat on his bed staring out of his windows at the stars, as if hoping they held the answers to his questions.

"Looking for something?" Isabel asked him, and he turned to see her standing in the doorway.

"What if there is someone out there somewhere waiting for us to come home, you know? Another mom and dad?" He asked her. Isabel sighed, and moved to sit next to him.

"I know we never really talk about this stuff. Do you? Wonder about it at all?" He said sadly.

"Every day." She replied.

"Well what if we could find out? What if someone had the answers for us? Would you want to know?" Max said wistfully. She thought about it for a moment.

"I think I'd be really scared." She finally admitted.

"What is this about Max? Is this about the key Michael found, because you know we can't do anything about it?" Isabel said.

"We're always being so cautious, you know? Always watching behind our backs. Never getting too involved, but we're never looking forward either. We're just kinda stuck Isabel. I'm not sure I want to be stuck anymore." Max sighed, and returned to looking at the stars.

"What's making you think about this? The key, or Liz?" Isabel demanded, a frown marring her pretty face.

"I'm not sure." Max lied. For years, all he wanted was to stay in Roswell, near Liz. But now… Her tenseness around him – It made him feel… He didn't know anymore.

"Max we already took a really big risk just telling them, and I don't like where it's headed." Isabel fussed.

"I trust them Isabel." Max told her.

"You want to trust them." She corrected him, and no matter how much he didn't want to admit it, she was right.

"You know I wish I had somebody I felt that way about." She told him.

"But we can't Max. We can't expose ourselves. I'm going to find out exactly what we're up against." Max's head whipped around.

"What do you mean?" He asked, suddenly nervous.

"I'm going to pay Maria a little visit." She said simply.

"What kind of visit?" He asked, eyes narrowed.

"The usual." Isabel shrugged.

"You can't just go around walking into people's dreams. Remember when you did it with mom? She wouldn't go back to sleep for a week." Max reminded her.

"Look, it's just to check things out. You know? Preventive measures." She reassured him.

"Isabel…" He said warningly.

"Max just a short visit. Goodnight." She kissed his cheek and returned to her own room. She pulled out the yearbook from their Freshman year, and opened it to the right page before sitting down on her bed. Getting comfortable, she touched the photo of Maria before closing her eyes and slipping into the other girls' dream.

_"Some people are just pigs." Liz pouted, cleaning up a huge mess at one of the tables._

_"Tell me about it." Maria agreed, walking back to the counter to take a customer's order._

_"Welcome to the Crashdown. AHHHH!" She screamed when she looked up and realized that her customers were monsters._

_"What's the matter Maria?" Liz's voice was distorted._

_"Look at them!" She cried, pointing to the monsters sat at the counter._

_"What Maria?" Liz asked, her voice still sounding strange and echo-ey_

_"They're repulsive, I mean…" Maria gaped, clearly horrified._

_"They look perfectly normal to me." Liz told her. Isabel appeared behind Maria, making the girl in question jump and whirl around._

_"What are you doing here?" Maria demanded, obviously thinking that she was part of the dream._

_"I just thought we should talk, and since we can't seem to do it when we're awake, I thought I'd visit you in your dreams." Isabel told her._

_"What do you mean visit me?" Maria asked, not understanding._

_"I'm not really a part of your dream. I can't change it or anything. I just wanted to see what you were thinking. It's quite interesting." She told the shorter girl, looking at a table where Michael sat, dressed in a tuxedo._

_"When he's dressed like that it makes me feel much less afraid." Maria admitted._

_"Afraid of what?" Isabel blinked. Michael might have been a little rough around the edges, but he wasn't scary. The thought had barely passed through Isabel's mind when 'Michael' turned into a monster and lassoed Maria's ankle with a tentacle._

_"AHHHHHH! Help! Sheriff I have to tell you!" Maria screamed from the floor, trying to get loose. She reached for the doorway where the Sherriff stood, but he didn't seem to be able to hear her._

_"Tell him what?" Isabel demanded._

_"You guys are horrible disgusting creatures from outer space." Maria yelled at her, clearly afraid._

_"Is that what you would really do?" Isabel asked her, her eyes sad._

_"Sheriff! Sheriff Valenti! Sheriff!" Maria called desperately, but the Sherriff never answered. Disappointed, but under no illusions, Isabel released her hold on Maria's dream._

* * *

When she'd sworn Maria to secrecy that afternoon, and followed Michael, she had never expected to end up in the desert. She had asked for, and been granted, the use of Maria's Jetta once she promised to pay for the gas money. Not being able to drive, she had promptly handed the keys over to Michael, who, after being warned of the short blonde's wrath, had driven them out into the dry New Mexico desert.

They'd spent the next few hours _connecting_and talking about old times, about things that had happened over the years. Odd things that she'd never really thought twice about as a child but had begun to look closer at in recent weeks. Like the time that Tommy Hilligan's locker had fused shut after he'd been rude to Isabel, or when Lawrence Collins had suddenly come out in a rash after pushing Max down in gym class.

He'd demonstrated the other powers that he had control of – namely molecular manipulation and a vague ability to blow things up. No rock was safe! Liz grinned at the memory of his face covered in dirt when a pebble had spontaneously turned to dust in a spectacular display.

They'd returned the keys to the Jetta at the end of Maria's evening shift. She had yawned, hugged Liz, waved at Michael through bleary eyes and said goodbye; obviously intending to go home, shower and hit the hay. Liz had shared one look with Michael, and instantly known that when she went out onto her rooftop balcony that night, he would be waiting for her. They ended up spending nearly two hours watching the stars that night in silence, and then she'd finally sent him home with a goodnight hug.

* * *

"Are you having problems with anything in your life right now Max?" Topolsky asked him during their follow-up interview.

"Are you having problems with anything in your life right now Max?" Topolsky asked him.

"No, not at all." He replied.

"Because some adopted kids go through tough times about this age. You know; Identity issues. Things like that…" Topolsky pointed out. Max blinked, confused.

"What does this have to do with my career path again?" He asked, not quite sure where she was going with this.

"If I'm going to help you figure out what you're going to become, maybe we should talk about who you really are." Topolsky told him, and he frowned.

"Now, you're an excellent student. Are you thinking of college?" She asked, shifting the subject a little.

"It's a little soon for that." He said.

"Two years. You don't think that far ahead?" She said, eyebrows raised.

"Not usually." Max replied.

"What about the past Max? What did you want to be when you were five?" Topolsky asked him. Max shifted uncomfortably and refused to meet her eyes.

"You don't remember anything before you were adopted do you?" She said, knowing that she'd hit the right buttons.

"What does this have to do with my future?" Max asked her, really wanting the interview to be over with.

"Sometimes it's hard to move forward with your future until you figure out your past." She told him.

Max left her office, and once school was over with, headed off to the UFO Centre to look for the Tour guide.

"Excuse me?" Max said, going up to the man from the previous afternoon.

"It's closing time." The Tour Guide told him, not looking up.

"It's Max Evans, from yesterday?" Max identified himself, causing the other mans' head to snap up quickly.

"Well, I thought you were playing hard to get." He said after a moment.

"Well… I had school." Max pointed out.

"All right, cut to the chase kid. Don't tease me. What do you know about 1959?" The Tour Guide snapped, not unlike a hungry animal that had food dangled in front of it.

"I thought you had something to show me." Max told him, still reluctant to give up his information.

"Is that the way you want to play? I'm about to show you unmitigated proof that aliens walked this earth." He whipped out a photo of a boy standing outside of an ice cream parlor. Next to the boy, was an oddly shaped shadow.

"I was that boy next to that alien shadow. That close. Now, what do you know about 1959?" The Tour Guide pressed.

"Only that there was a sighting near this ice cream parlor." Max told him blankly.

"Damn. I thought you had something. Look, I know that you're hooked. I can see it in your eyes. I could use a guy like you around here. Minimum wage. Long hard hours. But think of the rewards when we make the discovery of a lifetime." He said very quickly.

"You a non-smoker?" The man asked suddenly.

"Yeah." Max replied, not sure where he was going with this.

"Good. I can't take any chances with my archives so close."The Tour Guide said, frowning in thought. At the word 'Archives' Max's ears pricked up.

"Archives?" He asked, trying to sound casual.

"Just the most complete collection of UFO facts and findings ever compiled. Right up those stairs." The man told him happily.

"You have information on sightings?" Max said, curiosity growing by the second.

"I know it's a tourist trap cash cow, but every penny I make goes to my research. Everything you've ever wanted to know about extraterrestrial since 1947 waits for you behind that door." The Tour Guide grinned proudly.

"Your archives, are they open to the public?" Max asked, trying not to get his hopes up.

"Oh you're hungrier than I thought, and you remind me of myself as a confused, pained adolescent. Ever since then I've spent my entire life searching for aliens. And I swear on my mother's grave that one day I will stand face to face with one of these creatures, and I will say, "I told you so!" Now what about my offer? What do you think?" Max tried not to pull a face. The irony of this situation would have sent Michael and Isabel into giggle fits for days. He grinned.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Isabel sat in a booth at the Crashdown with her friends.

"Some people are just pigs." Isabel couldn't help but say as Maria walked past her. The simple sentence sent the dishes crashing to the floor, and Maria dropped down to retrieve them. When she stood up, she was face-to-face with Sherriff Valenti.

"Sheriff! What are you doing here?" She asked, caught off guard.

"I enjoyed the coke so much I thought I'd try breakfast." Valenti told her, smiling.

"Anything special you'd like to tell me about?" He asked.

"No." Maria answered quickly, clamming up.

"Well the board says you've got corned beef hash." Valenti said, looking around her at the wall.

"Yeah, right. Sorry. Heavenly hash special." Maria said, shaking her head. She could have kicked herself.

"Is that what you'd recommend?" He asked her.

"Oh absolutely." Maria told him, fake smile in place.

"You seem to know a lot about what goes on around here, so I'll trust you." Valenti said, leaving the double entendre hanging in the air.

"Right. Uh, one heavenly hash special." Maria said, writing it down on her pad.

"To go?" She asked, looking back at him.

"No, I think I'll eat it right here this time." Valenti told her, smiling politely. Maria wilted a little.

"Okay." She said, turning to walk away.

"Oh, by the way, the insurance company took care of everything. It's good to have a strong, dependable institution like that on your side." Valenti told her.

"How's your neck doing?" He asked suddenly.

"My neck?" Maria asked, confused.

"Yeah, that was quite a hit you took from that car the night of the festival." Valenti told her, and Maria blinked.

"Oh right! That was nothing." Maria rubbed the back of her neck and waved it off.

"You seem to be getting into a lot of accidents lately though. I'll tell you what? Why don't you stop by my office tomorrow, say, about this time, and you and I can talk." Valenti suggested.

"Okay." Maria agreed, not wanting to seem like she was hiding something.

"Oh, and I'll take that order to go." Valenti told her, having got what he wanted.

"Okay." Maria replied, and escaped into the back room. She never noticed Isabel watching her carefully.

* * *

"Outside forces. They're very powerful. Nothing in the universe is immune to them. If no man is an island, than no molecule lives in a vacuum. Heat makes them expand, and cold forces them together. They even affect each other." The biology teacher lectured.

"I'll help you if you help me." Max said, looking at Liz.

"Okay." She agreed, and Max _accidentally_ knocked a set of books onto the floor, giving them both a reason to duck down and retrieve them.

"I know this is all really strange." Max told her softly.

"No, no it's not." Liz shook her head.

"And keeping a secret like this is a lot of pressure." He continued as if she'd never said anything.

"No, but Max I would never even say anything." Liz whispered.

"I know, I know. Never on purpose, and I believe that. But what about Maria?" Max asked.

"Maria, no Max, she's completely trustworthy. She's like, um, she's like a fortress. She's the Fort Knox of friends." Liz told him.

"So she'll be okay when she goes to see Valenti tomorrow." Max asked.

"Oh yeah totally. She'll be fine. I'm gonna talk to her about it." Liz insisted.

"Right, ok. I guess I am a little worried. It's just she seems to be a little uh, high…" Max trailed off.

"I know, high strung. Well, yeah, you see that's what Maria's like on the outside, but on the inside she's like this really, really, um, like, um…" Liz struggled to find the right word.

"Calm." Max said hopefully.

"No she's not calm, it's something else, she's like this, on the inside she's more, um, Max, Maria's my best friend in the whole world, and she's going to be fine tomorrow. I'll make sure of it." She said.

"Right. It's just, it's important." Max insisted.

"I know it is. You don't need to worry about it. It'll be fine. I promise." Liz swore.

* * *

Once more, Topolsky pulled the students into her office.

"So I'm sure you're eager to hear the results of your computer profile." Topolsky had greeted them this time, and then handed the test results over to them with a smile.

"Writer. Cool. How hard could that be?" Vivian had said, looking a lot happier than last time.

"Psychologist. Wow. How did you get started in this field?" Alex had nodded cheerfully.

"Security? Lady, have you _seen_ my record?" Michael had exclaimed, and then promptly left the office before she could reply.

"Video store clerk. My dream." The stoner kid had nodded in a mellow sort of way. Topolsky had sneakily written down a suggestion for a drugs test next to his name.

"Law enforcement? This is a joke right?" Kyle had been less than pleased, but at least he hadn't imitated Michael and done a runner. When it had come to Isabel Evans, she'd taken a slightly different approach.

"How well do you think you know yourself?" She had asked politely.

"Very well." Isabel had coolly replied.

"Then you might be surprised by your computer profile. Now, you said in our first meeting that you wanted to be a supermodel." She reaffirmed.

"You work with what you're given." Isabel flipped her hair over her shoulder.

"That's quite a jet set career for someone who puts family first, craves stability and security, and leans towards care-giving fields." She remarked.

"Well I never trusted computers." Isabel said, looking at her nails.

"Think about who you are Isabel, and what's important in your life, and remember, there's nothing wrong with just wanting to be normal." She had said. Then Isabel _had_ imitated Michael and stormed off… although it was more of a flounce really.

* * *

Liz cornered Maria at the Crashdown that afternoon, before she went to see Valenti.

"Okay, you got tapped by the car and you just blacked out. And you don't remember a thing that happened after that." Liz said, feeding Maria the story.

"Okay? Pretend that I'm Valenti. What did you see in the parking lot that night?" She asked.

"Nothing, just headlights." Maria said, looking as if she were reading from a teleprompter.

"Perfect. And, um, and how did you get that handprint on you?" Liz asked her.

"I don't know I was unconscious." Maria replied, still acting as if she were reading from a scipt.

"Right." Liz said happily.

" Wrong, Liz. This is so ludicrous. Look, the sheriff is smart! He's going to find out the truth. And maybe that wouldn't be so bad. He's Kyle's dad. He said he was here to protect us." Maria insisted.

"Do you think we need protection from Max and Michael and Isabel?" Liz asked her. Maria bit her lip.

"Yes. Maybe. I don't know. I just wish you would stop trying to control the way I feel. I am not you Liz. Look I just, I have to do what I think is right." She said, and looked at her watch.

"I gotta go." Maria ran off, leaving behind a worried looking Liz.

* * *

"So what do you mean she was nervous?" Michael asked Liz, as they sat down at a table outside the high school. Max was tagging along, Isabel had gone to pick up the Jeep from the mechanic.

"I don't know. She was just, she was like nervous." She told him.

"Nervous, like, just overexcited nervous?" Max questioned..

"Or she's going to crack nervous." Michael chipped in. Liz shot him a look.

"I'm not sure what she's going to say. I'm really not sure of anything anymore." Liz said, and sighed.

"You're not sure. That's great. That's good." Michael groaned, kneading his forehead with the palm of his hand.

"Michael." Liz scolded, and he shot her a look.

"If you want me to say I'm sorry, I won't. Maria knew something was up, and if I didn't tell her, she was going to tell Valenti that she knew I'd been shot and that _you_ had done something about it." Liz told him.

"Fine. So you had to tell her." Michael conceded, and Liz smiled – poking him in the side.

"Yes, I did. Now stop being so grumpy. Michael squirmed, and Liz's eyes lit up.

"Are you _ticklish?_" She asked gleefully. Michael went white, and Max grinned. When he didn't reply, Liz poke him again, laughing when he moved away.

"You are!" The next few minutes were consumed by Liz chasing Michael around the table unltil she ran out of breath and slumped into a seat. Even then, Michael stayed out of poking distance and watched her warily.

"What did you mean the other day about the thing about the tree?" Liz said, turning to look at Max. Michael's ears perked up.

"Tree? What tree?" Liz ignored him.

"Just somebody's advice. Not to get stuck behind it." Max avoided her eyes.

"Oh. Well did you take it? That advice?" Liz asked him.

"I think I just did." Max told her, smiling. _Oh._ Liz felt a lead weight drop into her stomach. _Oh no. _Michael scowled.

* * *

Maria sat in a chair in Valenti's office, trying not to panic.

"What are you afraid of Miss DeLuca?" Valenti asked her.

"A lot of things." Maria told him truthfully.

"You know what I think? I think someone is controlling you, controlling you through fear. Am I right? I'm here to help you. You know that don't you?" Maria nodded.

"Then tell me what's frightening you so badly. What you saw the night of the crash festival? You were in that parking lot to meet whom?" Valenti asked.

"Nothing just headlights." Maria told him shakily, sticking to the cover story Liz had given her.

"Was there someone waiting for you?" Valenti asked her.

"I don't know I was unconscious." She told him.

"Maria. We both know why we're here, right? So what do you say we stop lying to each other? Okay?" Valenti said gently.

"Okay." Maria agreed.

"Now who is Isabel Evans?" Valenti demanded.

"Um, she's a girl at school." Maria evaded him.

"Why does she make you so nervous?" Valenti asked.

"I'm not nervous." Maria said quickly. A little _too _quickly.

"Isabel and her brother Max. How well do you know them?" Valenti asked. Maria tensed up.

"Not well, not well at all." She replied, sounding extremely nervous.

"You know I think you and I have something in common. I never got to know my father very well either. He was the sheriff around here about forty years ago. Did you know that?" Valenti told her.

"No." Maria had begun to fidget.

"Strong man. Strong hands. And he had this theory, you know? About aliens? That they were real. Sounds awfully silly doesn't it?" Valenti said.

"Yeah." Maria agreed shakily.

"That's what everybody thought. But my father, he was a very stubborn man, and he wouldn't let it go. He believed, and he lost his job over it. And he lost his family over it. Now I would hate to see that happen to any other family in this town, wouldn't you?" Valenti asked, and Maria nodded.

"Now that's one more thing that you and I have in common, isn't it? We've both seen things recently. Things that have made us start to wonder, made us question ourselves, our beliefs, and I think that if we share those things with each other, we're both going to feel a little bit safer." Valenti paused, moving back to sit behind his desk.

"Now Isabel Evans - She's just a girl?" He asked.

"She's a special girl." Maria corrected him.

"What makes her special?" Valenti said, eyes narrowed.

"Where she comes from." Maria said, beginning to buckle under the pressure.

"Where is she from? Maria, where are they from? Where did they come from?" Valenti pressed. Maria stated to shake, terrified, before suddenly she stopped. Mind made up she looked him in the eye.

"A very nice family, and like you said Sheriff. We wouldn't want to destroy any other families in this town, would we?" She replied, her voice icy cold as she repeated his words from earlier. Valenti looked taken aback, but Maria calmly collected her things.

"I think we're done here Sherriff, don't you." She said, and walked out of the office. She drove out of town and headed down the winding road that led to school. On the way, she saw that Isabel was having trouble with the Jeep, _again_,and slowed to a stop.

"You're alone?" Isabel asked her, curious.

"Do you see the army behind me?" Maria quipped, causing Isabel to blink in shock.

"You lied." Isabel realized.

"Like a rug." Maria deadpanned.

"Were you scared?" Isabel asked her.

"Understatement. But that's when I realized what it's like being you." Maria admitted, empathy visible in her eyes. Isabel blinked, surprised and then tried to cover up her emotions.

"You look awful." Isabel said, taking in Maria's disheveled appearance. Maria glowered at her.

"'Thanks for saving our butts Maria' 'Oh no problem.'" Maria imitated how she thought the conversation should have gone.

"So need a ride?" Maria offered, and Isabel looked back at the Jeep before shooting her a grin and climbing in. By the time they reached the school, they were actually chatting like real friends, and it was really satisfying to see the surprise on Max's face as they walked up to where he stood with Michael and Liz.

* * *

_"The future was always so clear to me, a straight path towards my goal. I just never counted on there being any intersections. Heck, I never counted on being shot and healed by a guy I'd had a crush on in grade school, only for him to turn out to be an alien from another planet. Talk about a curved ball._

_So I guess that's what makes life more interesting. Keeping yourself open, letting new people in, changing your mind. Although, I heavily suggest being ready to catch to those curve balls, because they really hurt when they sock you in the gut."_

* * *

**11.04.2013**

**AN: **

**1) I seriously apologize for the state of this chapter. For those not in the know, I generally write as a reprieve from stress. This morning, I got into a _HUGE_ fight with my Mum. It was the typical teen angst 'I don't feel wanted.' 'I wish I'd never been born.' 'Why do you hate me so much?' kind of deal that involved lots of tears (read: 2 hours of crying) and lots of tissues/snot. Needless to say, I now have a major sinus headache. **

**EDIT: I must admit though, I came home, and Mum was all cheerful again. She let me curl up in bed (I was suffering from a migraine) and brought me a cup of tea. So yeah, then I wrote the tickling scene, which was really fun to write. Michael comes across as this really rough and tough kind of guy who hasn't really had a childhood, so I reckon it'll take Liz's easygoing nature to loosen him up a bit.**

**2) Chapter 4: For The Ones We Love, and Chapter 5: A Thief in the Night will be up within the next week or so.**

**3) Email Sophia Conrad at: _Aspenwilder at Gmail dot com_**

**4) Transcripts found here: _www dot crashdown dot com/episodes/season1 dot php_**

**5) Those of you who want me to update my other stories, please do me a favor: either review and give me inspiration, or wait. I am tired, I am sick, our house sale fell through, and I'm due for a nervous breakdown.**


	4. Chapter 4: For The Ones We Love

**Ripple Effect**

**Sophia Conrad**

**Chapter 4: For The Ones We Love**

* * *

_"Promise me one thing, that you'll follow your heart wherever it takes you. Trust it."_

_- Claudia Parker_

* * *

_"It's October 19th. I'm Liz Parker and this is what I've been thinking. Can life ever go back to normal?_

_Part of me wants safety, wants to go back to how things were, to a life that I could predict, where I know how life is going to be. And the other part of me wants to go somewhere else, into the unknown."_

* * *

The Crashdown was absolutely bursting with customers.

"It's crazy." Maria said, looking around at the hustle and bustle of the Crashdown's evening rush.

"It's an orthodontist convention." Liz told her, wiping down the counter as she went.

"Why would orthodontists want to meet in Roswell?" Maria asked, filling up a set of soda glasses and adding ice.

"That's a good question." Liz said, shrugging. They took the drinks to the booths and then retreated to the kitchen window.

"Uh, José. If Table 3 doesn't get their food, I swear they're going to attack." Maria warned him, eyeing Table 3 nervously.

"Busy ladies, very busy." He replied, flipping a set of burgers before moving around to add salad to one plate and lift the fries out of the oil and let them drain.

"Oh, my God. I forgot to tell you. Grandma Claudia is coming on Friday." Liz said suddenly, turning to Maria.

"I have been going through Grandma withdrawal. I just love Grandma Claudia." Maria squealed with delight.

"I know. She's like the basis of my existence." Liz replied, equally as happy.

"Table 6." José told them, intruding on their moment.

"Oh, great...thank you." Liz said, taking the dishes from him and scurrying off.

"José, what about me" Maria begged. José blew her a kiss in return, and she rolled her eyes. Liz arrived at Table 6 within seconds, still balancing the plates carefully.

"Here she is." One of the Orthodontists said, leaning back in his seat as he noticed Liz.

"Okay, gentlemen. I've got one Venus Meatloaf Platter. There you go. And two Trekkie specials. Enjoy your dinner. Oh, and your space fries will be right out." She told them smiling, eyes flickering to the door when Max walked in and took a seat at the booth.

"Uh, Miss... My colleagues and I were just appreciating your wonderful overbite." The man told her, shaking out a napkin as he spoke.

"Oh... well, thank you... that's a first actually." Liz said, not really sure what to say.

"Would you mind if we just take a look at your bite... for medical purposes." He asked her, very politely.

"Sure." She replied, opening her mouth for them and praying that she didn't have anything stuck in her teeth. The Orthodontists looked at her teeth admiringly.

"Magnificent." He remarked.

"Enjoy your dinner, gentlemen." Liz said, before making her way over to Max's booth.

"It's an orthodontist convention." She told him, noticing his questioning glance at Table 6.

"Apparently." He remarked, having seen her showing them her teeth.

"So, are you waiting for Michael?" Liz asked him hopefully.

"No, no." He said, and Liz had to hide her disappointment. Max scanned the menu before looking back up at her.

"I'll just have an Alien Blast." Max told her.

"Me, too." Liz muttered sarcastically under her breath.

"Excuse me?" He asked.

"Nothing... okay, one Alien Blast." Liz chirped, covering up her slip, and then walked away. Neither of them noticed the group of Jocks that had been watching their conversation and had noticed Liz's uncomfortable behavior.

"He's the guy." Tommy told the others. They waited until Max was paying, which was an hour or so later, and went around the corner to wait in the alley.

"What's going on, guys?" Max nodded politely.

"Evans, right?" Paulie Briggs asked him.

"Yeah." Max replied.

"Stay away from her." Tommy told him.

"Who?" Max asked, confused. His answer was a swift punch to the face followed by a rough beating. They weren't pulling any punches.

* * *

"It's those jocks from the football team, right? Kyle and his friends?" Michael snarled. He had swung by the Evans' house and crawled through Max's window, only to discover that Max had been hurt.

"Kyle wasn't there." Max told him, watching Michael pace around his room.

"I've seen them giving you those looks. It was them, wasn't it?" Michael insisted, furious that his brother had been attacked for no reason.

"It doesn't matter who it was." Max tried to wave the incident away.

"I'm going to kill them." Michael growled. Max stilled.

"Michael... no."

"So what are we going to do?" Michael demanded.

"Nothing." Max said bluntly, pressing the compass to his face again.

"What do we mean we're going to do nothing?" Michael cursed.

"Michael, listen to me. This is bad. Kyle does something to us. We do something back to him. This kind of thing gets all over school, all over town. Rumors start flying. The whole thing about what you did to Liz starts coming up again. We get _exposed_." Max told him, looking him in the eye.

"That's exactly what I'm saying. We go and we shut up those guys right now." Michael insisted.

"Michael, we have to stick together now, more than ever before. We have to go back into our shells. We can't do anything to those guys, and now I have to stay away from Liz." Max said, looking like somebody had just kicked his puppy. Michael rolled his eyes, since when had Liz been interested in hanging out with Max anyway? There was no way he was letting those jumped-up jocks get away with this.

* * *

Liz waited in the athletic hallway, studying the poster board on the wall very carefully.

"Hey." Maria said, popping up behind her.

"Hey." Liz replied, focusing intently on the posters.

"So, catching up on upcoming athletic events?" Maria asked, nudging her best friend.

"Uh-huh." Liz hummed a reply.

"Uh-huh. It couldn't be that Michael usually meets Max, who has PE 4th period and you're conveniently positioning yourself to just happen to run into him?" Maria teased her.

"Good bye." Liz said in a sing-song voice.

"Bye." Maria wiggled her fingers into a wave, and walked away, grinning like a Cheshire cat. Not seconds later, Max appeared.

"Hey, Max." Liz said, leaning to look around him at the long corridor. Where was Michael?

"Hey." He responded with lack-luster.

"What happened to your face?" Liz gasped, shocked when she caught sight of how badly he was bruised.

"I fell." His excuse was pathetic, she didn't believe it for a minute, but if that was how he wanted to play it…

"Are you ok?" She asked him, trying to be polite.

"Yeah." He told her, shrugging it off.

"When did this happen? It looks really bad." She said.

"Yesterday. Uh, look, I got to get going. I have an English midterm. Bye." He told her, moving away quickly.

"Bye." Liz said, glad that he'd found a reason to be away from her. Maybe he had gotten over his crush. She blinked and turned around, just in time to see Kyle walking up to her.

"Liz, hey." He greeted her with a hug.

"Hey." She replied.

"So, tonight's movie night, right?" Kyle asked her.

"Yes." She agreed.

"Video store at 6?" He suggested.

"Sounds great." Liz smiled her first genuine smile for someone other than Michael in days.

"Alright. Ok, see ya." He grinned and walked off.

* * *

Michael started his revenge with Tommy Hilligan. He walked up the stone steps in the quad as Tommy was coming down them and accidentally-on-purpose bumped into him, making sure to touch his shoulder as he moved back.

"Hey, watch where you're going." Tommy snarled at him.

"Dude, I'm sorry." Michael replied, backing off and slipping behind the connect-four styled wall to watch his work. Tommy had met up with a busty blonde cheerleader who he'd been charming for the past week, and was in the middle of putting the moves on her when he started to itch. It was a small irritation at first, but it grew progressively worse until he was practically trying to tear his shirt off in an attempt to subdue the itch. Thoroughly disgusted, the cheerleader left. Michael smirked, happy with his victory.

* * *

She had been setting up a platter of doughnuts for the evening rush when Grandma Claudia walked through the front door, bags in hand.

"Grandma!" Liz exclaimed, darting forward to hug her Grandma.

"Honeybear!" Grandma Claudia pulled her into her arms, and looked over to her son.

"Oh, hello Jeffrey... Oh, you're still listening to them. You're dating yourself." Grandma Claudia teased, holding Liz tightly.

"Well, you know, some things defy time." Mr. Parker said offhandedly.

"Oh, look at you." Grandma Claudia fussed, looking Liz up and down.

"What?" Liz asked, confused.

"Last year when I left, you were a child. Now I come back to find a beautiful young woman." Her Grandmother said. Liz blushed, and tried made for her bags.

"Grandma, let me help you upstairs with your stuff." She said, ducking down to pick them up.

"Oh, Jeffrey will get it, won't you dear?" Grandma Claudia said, looking to her son who nodded. Liz put the bags back down again.

"I thought you weren't supposed to be here until Friday." Liz said, and then shook her head. What did it matter?

"Okay, so tell me what's going on. Did you finish that book you were working on last time?" Liz asked her excitedly.

"Oh, book, schmook. Let's dish." Her Grandma said, leading her into the back and up the stairs. They ran into Liz's mom, who was carrying a basket of laundry on the way up.

"Hey Claudia." Ms. Parker greeted happily.

"Nancy, oh it's so good to see you. Hey, come with us. We're going upstairs to catch up." Grandma Claudia encouraged.

"Really? Should I?" Mrs. Parker asked, looking to Liz.

"Yeah, definitely. C'mon mom." Liz said happily.

"I don't think so...I have a lot of laundry to do this week." Mrs. Parker declined, looking at the basket in her arms.

"We'll be back just as soon as Liz has told me about all the boys who are head over heels in love with her." Grandma Claudia declared.

"Don't waste your time because she never talks about that stuff." Mrs. Parker called after them. Liz pulled her Grandma into her room.

"…so, in any case, Kyle's not somebody that I'm going to marry or anything. But it's...you know. We have a good time together. It's good." Liz nodded, finishing her tale. Her Grandma sat there, obviously waiting for more.

"What?" Liz asked, eyeing her carefully.

"Well, not every relationship has to be the be-all and end-all." Grandma Claudia told her.

"Right... it doesn't?" Liz asked, surprised.

"No... everybody wants to find her soulmate, but there's so much time for that. I think it's nice that you have somebody you can have fun with." Grandma Claudia explained.

"What if there was something else?" Liz said nervously.

"Something else?" Grandma Claudia raised an eyebrow.

"Someone else." She clarified, fidgeting.

"Now, this is worth the price of the airfare." Her Grandma grinned, and Liz flushed.

"What if this someone else could potentially be... you know, special?" Liz mumbled.

"Is there someone else?" Grandma asked her gleefully.

"But what if were like complicated...like incredibly, incredibly complicated?" Liz said, twisting her fingers.

"Well, one thing I can tell you...if it isn't complicated, he probably isn't a soulmate." Her Grandmother told her. The door to Liz's bedroom opened and Maria slipped through it, stilling when she noticed Grandma Claudia.

"Grandma!" Maria cried happily.

"Oh, Maria! Look at you. Another beauty. God help this poor little town with you two running around." Grandma Claudia exclaimed, standing up to hug her.

"Okay, I love this woman." Maria told Liz happily.

"Wait... Look at this." Liz held up a book.

"It's an article on the first findings of the Navajo Indians in hundreds of years. Lost Treasures by Claudia Parker. It's going to be in the American Journal of Archaeology." She told Maria excitedly.

"That is so cool..." Maria's eyes widened, and then she turned to Granma Claudia.

"Okay, alright, so let's talk about me. The hair thing... Does it work for you? I kind of see it as a Meg Ryan style after an electric storm." She said.

"I think it's you." Grandma Claudia decided, after looking it over for a moment.

"She's good." Maria laughed.

"Okay, so what were you guys talking about" She asked.

"Nothing." Liz said quickly.

"Boys." Grandma Claudia overrode her.

"Oh... Kyle, Max or _Michael_?" Maria asked, looking to Liz. She quailed under the weight of Liz's evil-eye stare.

"Thank you..." Liz said, clearly not thankful at all.

"Aha... Michael." Grandma Claudia had caught onto Maria's emphasis on Michael's name.

"No... Michael... he's so not possible. He's just like this whole different..." Liz searched for words to describe Michael.

"Life form?" Maria suggested, earning herself a _look_ from Liz.

"Type." She corrected, voice firm.

"How intriguing. A dangerous man?" Grandma Claudia asked, clapping her hands together. Maria snorted… Dangerous? That was one word you could use.

"Spacey man." She said instead, knowing that Liz was rather touchy on the Michael subject.

"A mystery man." Grandma Claudia decided; her face gleeful.

"Okay, you two...you're out of control." Liz told them, struggling not to laugh as she pictured Michael's face upon hearing what was being said about him.

"So, what are we doing tonight?" Grandma Claudia asked.

"Tonight...?" Liz trailed off, trying to think.

There was a clatter and a crash from outside, and then somebody wiggled through her open window and landed on her floor with a thump. Liz turned around quickly to see a rather dazed-looking Michael sprawled on her bedroom floor. He wore the classic 'deer-in-the-headlights' look when he caught sight of Maria and Granma Claudia, who honestly looked just as startled as he did.

Liz swallowed. This would be hard to explain, and she wasn't sure how Maria was going to react considering that Liz had never told her about Michael's nighttime visits. Nobody said anything for a moment, and then Grandma Claudia broke the silence.

"I presume this is a friend of yours?" She asked Liz calmly and Liz nodded slowly. Behind her, Michael pushed himself up into a sitting position. His movement seemed to be all that was needed to break Maria out of her shock-trance.

"Michael, what're you doing here?" She demanded. Typical Michael, he ignored her in favor of rotating his shoulder.

"I think I might have pulled a muscle." He told Liz offhandedly, avoiding Maria's eyes. Liz helped him up off the floor and onto her bed, mindful of her grandmother's silent gaze.

"Oh, um… Grandma, this is Michael. Michael this is my Grandma Claudia." She introduced them tentatively. Michael was eyeing her Grandmother with what looked like the most scared expression she'd ever seen him wear. He looked almost ready to fling himself back out the window. Maria snickered, having realized the same thing.

"So _this_ is Michael." Grandma Claudia said, eyeing him in return. Nobody missed the emphasis she'd put on the sentence. Liz froze up, and Michael turned his gaze to her, unsure of what to do. When she winced, he knew that staying there was a bad idea and lunged for the window. She made to grab him, but missed, and as he bolted down the ladder again, he could practically hear her cursing him for abandoning her.

* * *

Max stuffed the stubs back into the autopsy-alien that was on display, trying not to make the damage worse than it already was.

"Whatcha doing?" Isabel asked, popping up behind him.

"Some kid pulled these out." Max told her, gesturing to the plastic innards.

"Great job you've found, Max. Real dignified." Isabel said, sarcasm clear in her voice.

"Gotta feed the monkey."Max quipped.

"Seventeen people at school already told me about your face..." Isabel told him, and gasped when he turned to look at her properly.

"Oh my God... What happened?" She asked, horrified.

"Michael and I..." Max began.

"Mary Townsend already told me the story of you falling on the basketball court... What really happened, Max?" Isabel fixed him with a stern look. Max sighed.

"Some guys roughed me up last night." He admitted, wincing as her gaze sharpened.

"Why?" She demanded.

"They're friends of Kyle's. They think Kyle must be upset about me and Liz." Max told her, ignoring her raised eyebrow at the mention of 'Him and Liz'. Isabel snorted.

"She barely knows you. What exactly are they imagining?" She asked.

"I don't know." He told her.

"So you were just going to tell me some story like I couldn't handle the truth?" Venom coated her voice.

"I guess I knew how upset you'd be and I don't want you to get mad. We have to stay inside now. We have to be careful." He told her, his expression guarded.

"Max, this whole thing with Liz and the Sherriff's son. It's just..."

"I know, I'm staying away from Liz." Max told her, sounding rather dejected. Isabel nodded, pleased, and looked over his injuries.

"Pretty raw..." Isabel murmured.

"Why don't you just get rid of them?" She asked him.

"Because they have to heal normally... _Everything_ has to be normal." He replied solemnly.

* * *

"I can't believe you actually rented this. This looks like the worst movie in history." Liz said, laughing as they walked down the side street toward the Crashdown, movie in hand.

"Well, okay, for your information, "Massacre at Sunset Village" is a modern day classic. And the serial killer homes in on this retirement community so it's got something for your grandmother." Kyle told her, grinning broadly.

"I am not showing this to my grandmother." Liz warned him.

"Well, twenty minutes of wings of boringness and we'll all be ready for some action." Kyle shot back as they came in sight of the Crashdown. They stopped still upon noticing both the crowd and ambulance outside its door. All semblance of humor evaporated as they ran toward the café, movie forgotten.

* * *

"What have we got?" The doctor asked, rushing to the side of the gurney as they wheeled it down the hallway of the hospital.

"Patient complained of weakness in her left thigh and her family members noticed slurred speech before she lost consciousness. BP 160, pulse 100, respiration 20." One of the attending nurses told him.

"Gimme an EKG..." The doctor said quickly, and then caught sight of Liz.

"Keep them out of here, please." The doctor told the nurse, nodding at the Parker family.

"I'm sorry, I need to have you wait." A nurse said, pushing the Parker family backwards.

"That's my mother." Mr. Parker protested.

"I understand that, but I need you to wait out here." The nurse apologized, guiding them to a waiting room. They sat there for nearly two hours in silence, and then suddenly, Liz stood up.

"I'm gonna go…" Words failed her, so instead she just left. She walked down two different halls until she found an area that seemed to lack people, and backed herself into a small corner before allowing herself to break down and cry. How could this be happening?

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there, feeling completely lost. But then she'd felt warm arms trying to lift her up, to pull her close. Not knowing who it was, she pushed them away, wanting to be alone in her pain.

"Liz? Liz, c'mon. Don't push me away." She looked up, and even though tears blurred her vision, she knew it was Michael.

"What're you doing here?" She asked, sniffling.

"I don't know. I just… I had a feeling that you needed me." He told her, tilting his head to the side.

"How?" She wanted to know. Michael shrugged.

"No idea. C'mon, up you get. Your Mom's getting worried." He pulled her to her feet and led her back down the hallway. They reached the lobby just in time to meet the doctor in charge of her grandma.

"Dr. Sanchez." Mr. Parker said, leaping to his feet.

"Jeff, hi. Nancy." Doctor Sanchez greeted them.

"Thank you for coming...we're so glad you're able to be here." Mrs. Parker told him, sounding rather relieved.

"Of course." Doctor Sanchez replied. Michael patted Liz's shoulder.

"I have to go. Are you going to be okay?" He asked her. Liz looked up at him, understanding.

"Yeah, yeah. I-I'll be fine." She told him, forcing a smile. He squeezed her hand gently, and then backed off, well aware of the looks that Kyle was shooting them. The last thing Liz needed right now was a jealous boyfriend throwing a tantrum.

"How is she?" Mr. Parker asked, clearly worried.

"Jeff, your mother's had a stroke. This is serious, but she's been responding really well. Her vital signs are good. She's stabilized." Doctor Sanchez explained.

"Is she going to be ok?" Mrs. Parker asked him, holding onto her husband's hand tightly.

"A lot of people fully recover from a stroke like this, but it's early. We're going to need some time to determine what the repercussions are." The doctor told them.

"Thank you." Mr. Parker said, letting out a huge sigh.

"We have reason to be positive here." The doctor insisted, Mrs. Parker nodded in understanding.

"Okay, thanks." Mr. Parker said. Doctor Sanchez walked out of the door, narrowly avoiding bumping into Max, who had just walked in.

"Max." Liz said, surprised. Suddenly, she was glad that Michael had left when he did.

"Hey." Max replied.

"My grandmother just had a stroke." Liz explained.

"Oh, I'm sorry...how are you doing, you okay?" He asked her, pretending that Isabel hadn't told him what had happened.

"Yeah, thanks...everyone this is Max." Liz introduced him to her family.

"Hi there." Her dad said politely, obviously not interested.

"Hi." Max waved shyly.

"So, what are you doing here?" Kyle asked him, eyes narrowed.

"My cousin got into a car accident." Max lied, using his cover-story.

"I'm sorry." Liz said, and Max immediately felt guilt clench in his stomach.

"I don't think it's serious. I better go find out how he's doing." Max told her, suddenly wanting to get as far away as possible. He walked around aimlessly for a while before leaving, only to run into Kyle, who had lain in wait for him outside the front doors.

"So, how's your cousin?" Kyle asked him.

"He's going to be okay." Max replied.

"Your cousin wasn't in an accident, was he?" Kyle said, knowing that Max had lied.

"It was a mistake." Max told him.

"Max...I know that something happened between Michael and Liz the day of the shooting. That he helped her out or whatever. She was shaken up and he calmed her down and I appreciate that. But what I don't appreciate is that ever since then, you've been all over her. I see it, Max. I'd understand if it were Michael, if he were keeping an eye on her, but you?" Kyle looked him in the eye.

"She said it herself, she doesn't even know you. This crush or whatever it is that you have, it's got to stop. My friends see it, the entire school sees it. Now, I like Liz...a lot, and I don't want you around her."

"Believe me, I can see that." He told Kyle, before starting the engine and driving away

* * *

Kyle slouched down on the couch, turning the TV up even louder. Today officially sucked. To make things worse, Max Evans was really starting to move in on his girl. Had nobody ever explained the bro code to that guy? The front door clattered as his dad walked in, hanging up his belt as he did so.

"Hey, improving your mind, eh?" His dad joked, and Kyle turned the TV up again.

"How was your day?" his dad asked him.

Just got back from the hospital." Kyle replied, flicking through the channels.

"The hospital?" His dad asked, sounding panicked.

"Liz's grandma had a stroke." Kyle explained, deflating his dad before he began to freak out.

"I'm sorry to hear that." His dad said once it had all sunk in.

"They think she's going to be alright though." Kyle told him, eyes fixed on the TV screen.

"Give my regards to the family, will ya?" His dad said, his voice muffled now that he was digging through the fridge.

"Yeah..." Kyle dragged the word out.

"Kyle, is something bugging you?" His dad asked, pulling his head out of the fridge.

"Just girl troubles...nothing you'd understand." Kyle replied tiredly.

"Why don't you try me?" His dad asked, turning off the TV and sitting down in front of it.

"Alright, let me just ask you then. When you and mom, back when things were good if you can remember that far back, did you ever feel like you didn't know what was going on with her? Like she was just going through the motions, like there was something else on her mind all the time?" Kyle shot back aggressively.

"Is that what's going on with Liz? Is something on her mind?" His dad asked, eyes narrowed.

"Why am I talking to you about this? I'm like deranged." Kyle sighed, frustrated.

"What else is on her mind? School stuff?" His dad pressed.

"No, no...just like someone else, maybe." Kyle waved it off.

"Does this have anything to do with that Max kid?" His dad asked, weirdly perceptive.

"What...the entire country knows?" Kyle sputtered, throwing his hands up.

"Kyle, listen to me. I don't want you getting mixed up with that kid." Suddenly his dad was in Sherriff mode.

"What are you talking about? What do you care about Max Evans?" Kyle asked suspiciously.

"Kyle, I don't want you around him. Do you hear me?" Sherriff Valenti told him, all traces of Kyle's dad gone.

"Yeah." Kyle agreed and retreated to his room.

* * *

Michael's second for of revenge came in the form of History, which he shared with Paulie Briggs. It just so happened that today marked the day of a major unit test. Paulie wasn't an idiot, but he was certainly no genius either. Usually, he only managed to pass by the skin of his teeth.

So Michael waited until Paulie finished his test and left, before moving to put his own in the box. Before he lay down his test paper, Michael used his powers to change the top page of Paulie's answers. There, now it was up to fate to decide. As he left the room, Michael felt a twinge of doubt – What would Liz say if she knew? He shook it off – No, the jocks deserved what they got. Humming a tune, Michael sauntered down a hallway. What should he do for Eddie?

* * *

"Max, hey." Liz greeted, approaching the boy in question.

"Hey, how's your grandmother?" Max asked her.

"We're waiting, but I think she's going to be okay. I mean, if anyone can pull through this, it's her. She's so full of life." Liz told him, sounding a little more cheerful.

"I hope she's okay." Max told her honestly.

"So, about last night." Liz said, trying to be casual.

"Isabel told me. She was helping out Maria at the Crashdown, and I thought I'd see if you were okay." Max explained.

"Thankyou. I'm just really sorry that it got so awkward." She told him.

"It was a mistake. I mean, you had your family there...and Kyle." He added, his expression darkening.

"Is everything alright?" Liz asked, noticing his expression.

"I have to go." He told her, and hurried away. He took a left and went down another hallway before diving into the boys bathroom, clearly angry about something. Finally, he took his frustration out of the side of one of the bathroom stalls, causing it to fly off its hinges and collapse.

"Ow." A voice exclaimed from within the ruined stall.

"Gandhi feeling frustrated?" Michael quipped, coming out of the busted stall.

"Shut up." Max snapped at him.

"Let me guess... you're in love with a girl and she's with another guy." Michael asked. He could relate.

"You realize that you can be really annoying, right?" Max told him.

"I got something else that's gonna cheer you up." Michael clapped him on the shoulder and pulled him out into the hallway where Kyle had drawn a crowd. For some reason, his locker simply refused to open.

"What the hell are you doing?" Max hissed, realizing that Michael had done something.

"What am I doing?" Max repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"What are you doing?" Max demanded angrily.

"I'm helping you out." Michael told him.

"No, you're not helping me out. You promised me that you wouldn't do anything to those guys." Max snarled at him.

"I promised I wouldn't _hurt_ those guys." Michael pointed out the rather convenient loop hole that he had exploited.

"You're putting us in danger, Michael." Max said.

"You're the one who's putting us in danger. Following Liz around like a lost puppy? Did you really think that nobody would notice, or link it to the shooting? A girl gets shot, and then one of the witness's starts stalking her?" Michael hissed aggressively.

"I love her." Max protested.

"Let's hope we can trust her." Michael warned him.

"We can trust her." Max insisted.

"Well, I don't trust anyone these days." Michael replied. It was a lie. He hated lying – hated pretending to despise Liz.

* * *

"Liz, how's she doing?" Maria asked as she came up behind Liz and put an arm around her. She lead the dazed brunette to one of the soft couches outside the front office.

"She's okay...we're just going to wait and see." Liz replied, sounding rather lost.

"Come here." Maria pulled her down on to the couch.

"So what are you doing at school?" She asked as Liz curled up in her lap. Maria started to fiddle with Liz's hair.

"I was at the hospital all night. My parents just wanted me to take a break. My mom said she'd page me if anything changed." Liz told her.

"Well, you know, you should be at home then...binging on junk food and Rosie." Maria said, worried for her friend. Liz sat up.

"Maria, I'm getting this really weird feeling from Max." Liz

"What kind of feeling?" Maria asked her.

"It's like I've done something wrong, which is ridiculous, because I barely see him… It's just, it's like he'd angry with me." Liz explained, fidgeting.

"Well, the guy has a huge crush on you which is blatantly obvious and you _do_ continually brush him off and avoid his advances." Maria pointed out.

"Yeah, but it's different. I saw Max before and he had this...like this tone like I was his enemy or something." Liz told her, frowning.

"Maybe you're just reading into this too much. I mean, with everything that's going on." Maria suggested.

"Maybe." Liz replied, biting her lip. The bell rang and they got up.

"So, I'll just, I'll see you at work." Liz said. Maria did a double take.

"Work? No way you're working tonight, Liz." She told the smaller girl.

"No, Stephanie's on vacation, Karen's pregnant, and those tooth people are going to invade. I cannot leave you by yourself." Liz insisted.

"Liz, you should be with your family, okay? I can handle the Crashdown." Maria assured her.

"Are you sure?" Liz frowned, worried.

"Absolutely, and besides, I'm not alone. I have Agnes." Maria said, steering her toward Geometry.

* * *

Later that afternoon, Maria was forced to eat her own words. The place was packed, and she only had one pair of hands. Agnes was… unhelpful to say the least.

"I've been here half an hour." One of the customers complained to Maria when she brought steaming plates to his neighbors.

"Enjoy your meal. Enjoy your meal." She said, setting the dishes down,

"Thanks." One of them said, but Maria was already halfway across the room, at Table 5.

"Miss, can I order now, please?" The man from Table 8 asked her.

"Yes, one second." She told him, before focusing on the man in the booth.

"Hi, what can I get for you, sir?" She asked, shooting him a winning grin.

"Well, lemme ask you. Would you recommend the Will Smith burger over the Tommy Lee Jones Bacon basket?" The orthodontist sitting at the booth asked her.

"Agnes, can you get that guy's order, please?" Maria begged the older waitress, before returning to the customer at hand.

"So which one would you recommend?" The orthodontist asked.

"The first one." She told him, not really sure what he had asked.

"The Will Smith?" The orthodontist asked, but Maria had been distracted by Agnes walking out of the restaurant, and had followed.

"Agnes! What are you doing?" she demanded as the older woman lit up a cigarette.

"I'm on break." The old waitress replied, taking a long drag of her cigarette.

"Break? You're on a break? You just had a break!" Maria exclaimed.

"They'll get their food when they get their food." Agnes told her grouchily. Maria began to hyperventilate, and pulled out the bottle of cypress oil that she kept in her apron. As she did this, Isabel walked by with two of her friends, Pamela Jones and Amanda Price.

"Isabel." Maria said to herself, the proverbial light bulb pinging overhead.

"Isabel." She shouted, hurrying after the taller blonde.

"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Isabel asked sassily, clearly wishing for Maria to leave her alone.

"I need to talk to you." Maria insisted. Frustrated, Isabel let out a huge sigh before turning to her friends.

"I'll meet you guys at the movie." She told them reluctantly. Once they were gone, she rounded on Maria.

"I thought we agreed that you would never address me until we'd established complete privacy." Isabel hissed at her, but Maria didn't even bat an eyelid.

"Okay, I am going to hate myself for this but I need to ask you for a favor that will leave me forever indebted to you. I am so dead here. Will you help me wait tables?" Maria begged. Isabel did a double take.

"You're kidding, right?" She asked.

"Please." Maria begged.

"To put this as succinctly as possible, I'm not really a service oriented person." Isabel sniffed, tilting her nose upwards, turning away.

"Wait wait wait. Liz's grandmother is in the hospital." Maria told her.

"Okay, and if she doesn't think that I can do this, it's just going to give her one more thing to worry about. Please. Look, it's not for me, it's for Liz."

"Well, since you put it that way...no." Isabel told her, and then walked away. Dejected, Maria returned to the Crashdown.

* * *

"Well, your grandmother was hiking in Yosemite. And she came across this guy who was deer hunting." Mr. Parker said, telling Liz one of the many exploits that had Grandma had had when she was younger.

"And it wasn't even deer season." Mrs. Parked added.

"Well, I think it was. But anyway, he's hunting inside the national park." Her dad continued.

"And it was off season, too." He mom cut in.

"Anyway, she arrested him." Her dad finished.

"Who, the hunter?" Liz asked, completely entranced.

"Yeah, it was him and his brother and their buddy, too, right?" He turned to his wife.

"Right." Liz's mom nodded.

"Made a citizen's arrest." Her dad told her.

"And you should have seen your grandma. She's dragging these 3 gun-wielding, beer-guzzling hunters into the Sherriff's office. It made national news, right?" Mrs. Parker told her.

"She's so incredible." Liz said, amazed.

"_CODE BLUE, ICU, ROOM 104, CODE BLUE, ICU, ROOM 104_." The PA intoned in dulcet tones.

"Oh my God. It's her." Mr. Parker gasped, his head shooting up. As one, the small family bolted toward room 104, and watched from outside the room.

"Charge 200...clear." Doctor Sanchez called, rubbing the paddles together.

"Nothing." His assistant told him.

"Charge 300...clear." Doctor Sanchez repeated.

"Nothing." His assistant replied.

"Charge 360... clear." The doctor called again, and Liz turned to burrow into her Mom's arms.

* * *

"She could still come out of it." Maria told her, playing with Liz's hair. As soon as the Crashdown had shut for the night, Maria had bolted for the hospital only to find Liz curled up in a chair in the lobby.

"Well, the doctor doesn't think so. I saw it in his eyes." Liz sighed.

"I can't believe this. I mean, you saw her yesterday, you know? She was so full of life." She cried.

"I know." Maria told her, pulling her in for a hug.

"I can't believe I went out. I was out all day. I wasted all that time in the video store. I had all this time that I could have just spent with her and I left. What was I thinking?" Liz cried, leaning against Maria.

"I know, it's irrational. I'm being irrational." She told Maria.

"Liz, I'm glad you're being irrational. I mean, this is hard. This is really, really hard. Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Maria replied, watching her carefully.

"Yeah, it's fine, but thank you." Liz said, defeated. Maria pulled her into a tight hug.

"Okay, I love you." She told her.

"I love you, too." Liz replied, eyes closed.

* * *

Max lay on his bed, moping. Today sucked. He shut his eyes as he heard someone enter the room.

"Go away!" He moaned, wishing he had a pillow to throw. When he didn't hear anymore footsteps, he cracked open his eyes.

"No way!" Max gaped, catching sight of the uniform Isabel was wearing. It was a waitress uniform from the Crashdown. What the hell?

"Shut up. Temporary situation." Isabel told him.

"Why are you...? You're covering for Liz, aren't you?" Max said, realization dawning on his face.

"So...depressed? Feeling sorry for yourself? Angry at the world?" Isabel asked him mockingly.

"All of the above." Max groaned in response.

"Listen, I heard Liz's grandma isn't doing so well. She could probably use someone to talk to." Isabel said.

"She's got Maria. She's got Kyle." Max told her.

"Besides, you're the one who's always telling me I have to stay away from her. What are you saying, Izzie?" Max pointed out.

"I'm just saying that, you know, if something like this happened to grandma or grandpa, I wouldn't want to be kept away from who I really needed. So anyway, wish me luck. Or should I say, wish the orthodontists luck." Isabel left, a rather scary expression on her face. Max uttered a short prayer for the Crashdown's customers before flopping back onto the bed.

* * *

"Excuse me, ma'am." One of the customers said, trying to get Isabel's attention. She stopped in her tracks and turned to face him.

"Ma'am? Look, you're not going to get anywhere calling me ma'am." She told him icily.

"I ordered this burger well done. Well. Not rare. Well." He insisted, ignoring her acidic eyes. She took the plate away, and moved to where he couldn't see her before flipping the bun off the burger and using her powers to grill it. Then she took it back again.

"It looks well done to me." Isabel told him tartly, and moved off to clean a table that had just been vacated.

"Isabel Evans? Cleaning people's remains?" Pamela asked, sounding like she'd just seen somebody be hit by a bus.

"Isabel...image means everything is this world, you know that." Amanda hissed.

"We base our lives on that." Pamela reminded her.

"And if you're seen in this capacity, it's not just you that suffers. It brings us all down." Amanda told her, clearly unimpressed.

"Chill out." Isabel told them, carrying on with her job. Maria snagged her by the back end, cup of coffee in hand.

"Hi, can you heat this?" Maria asked her, and Isabel complied, instantly heating the brew.

"You're a genius." Maria told her, glowing with cheer. Thank god for aliens.

* * *

That night, after she got back from the hospital, Liz crawled out onto her rooftop balcony to watch the stars. They were tiny pinpricks of light, but at the same time they were huge burning balls of light thousands of miles away… So amazing. There was a clatter, and she turned her head in time to see Michael swing up onto the balcony. He walked over to her and sat down next to her on the lawn chair.

"How is it that you just keep showing up when I need you?" She asked him softly.

"I'm not sure." He told her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. It was strange, a month ago they had barely spoken in the halls at school, and now… now Liz couldn't imagine her life without him. Michael had never failed to show up outside her window for an evening chat, or indulge her with answering whatever questions she could dredge up. He never failed to appear when she needed him… Not once… But _how?_

"Michael… why did you come to the hospital earlier?" She asked, this time thinking about that one time. He looked down at her.

"I don't know… I just… I felt like I _really_ needed to be there. So I went."

"Yes, but how did you find me?" She questioned, brows pulled together into a frown.

"I don't… Oh…" Michael exhaled softly as an idea set in.

"What? Oh what?" Liz insisted, sensing a change in him.

"Liz… do you think… maybe… it's to do with the connection?" He asked her, feeling her tense underneath his arm.

"Oh…" She breathed.

"Is it possible?" He pushed.

"Well, I don't see why not… I mean, it'd have to be really strong to do that… but maybe." She told him, really thinking hard about it.

"Do you want to test it out?" He asked her, humming with excitement.

"Yes… but not tonight." She answered after a pause, leaning into him.

"Not tonight." He agreed, pulling her close again, and they settled down to watch the stars.

* * *

The next afternoon, Kyle tapped his foot impatiently. All day, his locker had refused to open, and now the janitor was finally taking a shot at it. So far, the crowbar was barely making a dent. What was _wrong_ with it?

"Whoa, that's weird." The man said, prying the door open fully.

"What?" Kyle asked, peering over the man's shoulder.

"Looks like it melted." The janitor told him, showing his the inside of the door where the locking mechanism had fused.

Kyle pulled his books out, and caught up with his friends outside of the school.

"So the locker just melted closed. How do you explain that? Metal's got to be like 500 degrees to melt." Kyle told his friends, completely baffled.

"Maybe it was that Max guy, getting back at us." Tommy suggested.

"Getting back at us for what?" Kyle asked him, eyes narrowing.

"We beat the crap out of the bastard." Paulie told him.

"What?" Kyle hissed, sucking in a breath.

"You're the one that told us he was hitting on Liz." Eddie Carmack told him.

"Idiots." Kyle snapped furiously. This was not going to end well.

* * *

"How's she doing?" Kyle asked, walking up to where Liz stood outside of her Grandma's room.

"She's okay." Liz said, still staring through the glass window.

"Listen, I need to talk to you." He told her. She nodded, and followed him out of the hospital, passing Michael on the way. Thankfully, Michael had enough tact to wait by the doors, out of earshot. Well, out of the range of _human_ earshot.

"Liz, I'm sorry. I know you have other things on your mind right now, but I just wanted to tell you that I had nothing to do with what happened to Max." Kyle told her.

"What happened to Max?" Liz asked him, her voice taking on a worried tone.

"You know...Tommy, Eddie and Paulie, those guys. They're degenerates and I had no idea they were going to do that." Kyle said.

"Do what?" Liz said, confused.

"You know, beat him up. You didn't know?" Kyle explained, surprised that Max hadn't told her.

"Why would they do something like that?" Liz asked him, eyes wide.

"I don't know why. They were just trying to help out." Kyle told her.

"Help out? How would that help out?" Liz said, trying to puzzle it over.

"I told them it was wrong, Liz." Kyle swore, holding his hands in the air.

"How could you be friends with people who would do that?" Liz asked, horrified.

"C'mon Liz. They're good guys. You-" Whatever she was, Liz didn't give him a chance to say it.

"No, they're not good guys." Liz told him.

"Why are you getting like this?" Kyle frowned, confused.

"Like what?" Liz asked, puffing up like an adder.

"I'm trying to explain something to you and you're letting it get all out of hand." He said, frustrated.

"You must have said something to them about Max. They must have had a reason to do what they did." Liz insisted, angry that he'd been attacked.

"Why are you so damn worried about Max?" Kyle snapped at her.

"Because he got attacked for no reason. He's the last person in the world who would ever want to hurt someone." Liz told him.

"So, that's it, isn't it? You and Max are together." Kyle said.

"What? No! I barely know him. The only reason we hang out is because he's friends with Michael!" Liz told him.

"So it's you and Michael." Kyle said angrily, eyeing Michael who waited for her by the door.

"No, we're not. But you know what? Neither are we." She hissed, feeling like she was going to break down at any moment.

"What?" Kyle's eyes widened.

"Kyle, I just, I really don't think that we should be together anymore." She told him tiredly.

"So, you're going to break up with me because my friends knocked Max around?" Kyle demanded, looking rather upset.

"No, it's complicated." She told him.

"It's because of Max." Kyle decided, coming to the only logical conclusion. Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending how one looked at it, this was _not_ a logical situation. Liz shook her head.

"No, I told you that Max..." Liz tried again.

"Listen, Max is trouble. My dad's got an eye on him." Kyle told her.

"I have to go see my grandmother. I'm sorry Kyle." She said, and turned away, walking back up the steps of the hospital to where Michael was waiting. They made their way back to Grandma Claudia's room in silence. There were no words that could possibly fill the void.

"How is she? Is there any change?" Liz asked, as they walked into the room. Her dad looked up at her.

"None." He said, voice strained.

"Why don't you guys go outside and get some air?" Liz suggested, handing her dad a cup of water. Michael passed one to her Mom.

"You sure?" He asked her. She nodded.

"Yeah, I'll be fine, okay?" Liz told him, and then sat down in the seat he vacated. Michael took the seat next to her and put his arm around her.

"I can't stop it, you know what's going to happen, but maybe I can help you say goodbye." Michael told her, and Liz looked up at him through tear-filled eyes.

"How?" She asked him.

"You know how we can connect?" He asked her.

"Yeah?" She replied, rubbing an eye wearily.

"Well, maybe I can do something like that. Y'know, link you up." He suggested. Liz stared at him for a moment.

"Thank you." She whispered, and he nodded. Michael leant forward and took Grandma Claudia's hand with his left, and Liz's hand in his right, closing his eyes tightly as he focused. It didn't quite work out the way he had intended, but it worked none-the-less.

"Honeybear" Liz jerked around, hearing her Grandma's voice. Her grandma was standing in front of her, and yet, when she looked back at the bed, she was still there too. Liz sputtered for a moment, before forcing it back. She might not have very long.

"Grandma… I guess the thing I wanted to say to you more than anything else is just how much you mean to me, and somehow you just always manage to make me feel really special, and I, I just don't know what I'm going to do without you." She managed to get out, trying her best not to dissolve into tears again.

"You're going to do just fine, and I want to tell you something. When I look at you so excited about life, I see myself, and that's a gift, a gift that I will take with me, that I'll always treasure." Her grandmother told her.

"Promise me one thing, that you'll follow your heart wherever it takes you. Trust it. Will you do that?" Grandma Claudia asked.

"I will." Liz said tearfully. Then her grandmother's image disappeared and the monitor next to the bed began to squeal as her heartbeat flat-lined. After that, things started to blur together. She had a vague recollection of nurses running into the room, and then somebody calling a Code Blue. Of Michael's arms locked around her, holding her up when her knees buckling. Then she stopped caring. Her Grandma was gone.

* * *

Michael walked her home that night, and helped her up the fire escape, unlocking her window for her when they reached the balcony.

"Michael, thank you for..." Liz said, choking on her words as she began to sob quietly. He pulled her close.

"Shhh. It's okay." He whispered as she buried her face in his shirt. Michael rubbed her back gently, and after a long moment, Liz pulled back.

"Good night." She told him, smiling sadly.

"Good night." He replied and helped her through the window. That night, he sat on the roof of the building, determined to be near if she needed him.

* * *

_"The tough thing about following your heart is what people forget to mention, that sometimes your heart takes you to places you shouldn't be, places that are as scary as they are exciting and as dangerous as they are alluring, and sometimes your heart takes you to places that can never lead to a happy ending... and that's not even the difficult part. The difficult part is when you follow your heart, you leave normal, you go into the unknown…and once you do, you can never go back."_

* * *

**21.04.2013**

**AN: So – anybody want to hear a joke? I wrote Chapter 5, and then realized I'd forgotten to write Chapter 4… So, yeah, I had to go back and write it. That's why it took so long for the update, but on the bright side – you get TWO chapters. :D **

**So – Michael bailed in to talk to Liz and tell her about Max getting banged up… only to bolt when he met Grandma Claudia… Ooops. Want to know what happened to Eddie? I might mention it in Chapter 6 if I get enough requests.**

**You'll get the usual AN next chapter, as I'm doing replies to Reviews in this one. **

**Dean Winchester's Baby Girl:**** Thanks. As you can probably tell, I'm a major polar fan too. :) Michael is a fun character to write. He's never going to be 'The Perfect Man' which makes him so damn awesome. Who wants perfect? So yes, we have emotionally unsure, slightly-squishy Michael around Liz, and punky-gruff stonewall Michael around everybody else except Grandma Claudia… but she doesn't really count… Shame. Update? Why or course. I am your humble servant. I say servant, not slave, as I expect to be paid in Reviews. XD Writing this is addictive. :D**

**Boolochka06:**** Thanks. I like how I'm writing it too. Parallel AU's are hard because the whole point is to not deviate too much, but to create a divergent. - This is hard. I totally agree, Max is a dopey Puppy, and in the second season? A complete git! Where does he get off being so bossy, and why does Liz let him? I've had guys like this pester me before. It really does create that icky sinking feeling. Poor Liz. :( Episodes 5, 6 & 10? You read my mind. I've been planning those for a while. *cackles evilly* Chapter 5 will be up as well, so go ahead and find out. XD**

**Twisted Musalih:**** Thankyou. *bows* Thankyou. I**

**Guest:**** Thankyou Guest. I appreciate your interest… shame you don't have an FF account. :/ I hope you enjoy this.**


	5. Chapter 5: A Thief in the Night

**Ripple Effect**

**Sophia Conrad**

**Chapter 5: A Thief in the Night**

* * *

_"You might want to get better window locks. Y'know, for when your criminals happen to be human."_

_- Michael Guerin_

* * *

_"It's funny how the world changes sometimes, how the streets you walked your entire life seem darker, colder. How the silence isn't so quiet anymore. How eyes you've barely even noticed now look at nothing but you. How the walk home every night is no longer routine, but a victory. And then you begin to wonder... maybe it's not the world that's changed. Maybe it's just you… and then, suddenly... you begin to wonder all over again."_

* * *

She'd gone home that night intending to finish her homework and write in her diary, but her plans had gone seriously wrong when she'd discovered that her diary was missing. Panicked, she ducked out the window and climbed down the fire escape before bolting to Maria's. Liz knocked on the DeLuca's front door frantically.

"Liz, what's wrong?" Maria asked, opening the front door.

"My journal's missing." Liz told her, pushing past and into the house.

"And?" Maria said, turning to face her friend.

"Maria, I wrote everything in that journal." Liz whimpered, tugging at the ends of her hair.

"Everything?" Maria repeated.

"Things about Michael." Liz elaborated, fidgeting nervously.

"Personal things about Michael?" Maria guessed.

"Everything." Liz said solemnly.

"What?! Like where he's from, what he is, I mean, what he isn't?" Maria yelped.

"No, I mean... _everything_." Liz told her, and Maria dropped the bag she had been holding.

* * *

It was 2 am when Michael straight up in bed, panting with exertion. He wiped the sweat off his face and reached for his sketchbook, desperately trying to sketch what he had seen in his dream. It took several pages before anything clear began to emerge – namely a curved line. It was quarter to three before he dressed and snuck out to find Max. He made his way to the Evans' house and unlocked the window to Max's room. Max woke up as he pushed the window panes open.

"Hey man, what's going on?" Michael greeted, swinging over the sill and into the room.

"Since you asked, REM sleep. Please tell me this is important, Michael." Max groaned, rubbing his eyes.

"It is. I dreamt it, Max. I've seen it more clearly that I ever have." Michael told him excitedly, perching on the edge of the bed and holding up a piece of paper.

"What?" Max asked, confused.

"This. It's what I saw that night at Valenti's office. When I touched the key, that's what I saw." Michael told him, practically bouncing.

"You saw a semicircle?" Max said, eyes still bleary from sleep.

"No no no. I saw this, Max. _This_." Michael jabbed at the curved line on the piece of paper.

"And what is _this_?" Max asked, gesturing to said curvy line.

"I don't know yet. But I saw it. I didn't even remember until tonight. I had to tell somebody." Michael told him, pacing around.

"And I appreciate that I'm the one you chose to wake at 3 in the morning to tell that you've been dreaming about semicircles, but maybe we can talk about this in the morning?" Max slumped down again, and draped an arm over his face.

"Yeah, okay. In the morning." Michael replied, dejected. He motioned to the floor.

"Would you mind?" He asked and Max nodded.

"No, no. Go ahead." Max tossed him the sleeping bag, which he unrolled and lay on the floor. Sleep had never been so hard to find that night.

* * *

The next morning, Liz and Maria paced the school hallways.

"What we need to do is reconstruct the crime." Maria told her, sounding a little _too_ happy.

"Reconstruct the crime?" Liz repeated.

"Motive and opportunity, Liz. That's the key. I mean, this is Roswell. You can't just ignore things like this." Maria bounced on her toes. Liz gave her a sideways look. Somebody had been watching a little _too_ much TV.

"Look, I told you there was nothing unusual. I was studying with Alex yesterday and..." Liz told her, before being cut off.

"Alex? Ok, ok, we have opportunity." Maria said, frowning.

"Yeah, well, we were in my room and then he left and went home and...and...wait a second." Liz trailed off, thinking hard.

"Hmmm?" Maria looked back at her friend.

"Why am I reconstructing a crime when there is absolutely no crime to reconstruct? It's misplaced, Maria. It's not stolen." Liz decided.

"Yeah, until we ask ourselves, "Why would Alex want the diary?" Has he been feeling ignored, curious, asking questions we don't answer, seeking explanations we don't give? Come on. And what better way to find those answers than in your journal? Now that's a motive. Was he alone in your room?" Maria pointed out.

"This is ridiculous." Liz told her.

"Liz, I'm your friend, ok? I'm just trying to help you out here. Ok, so was he alone? Alex? At any time?" Maria insisted.

"Well, yeah he was. I went to go get a soda." Liz admitted.

"So he was alone..." Maria asked, luckily trailing off as Alex walked up to them.

"Ladies..." He greeted cheerfully.

"Hi Alex." Liz smiled at her friend.

"Alex!" Maria exclaimed, spinning around.

"Uh, so what are we talking about?" Alex asked as he reached them.

"Nothing really important." Liz told him.

"Nothing important." Maria agreed, shaking her head. Alex eyed them suspiciously.

"Ah, nothing game again. Ok. Well, I just wanted to remind you about the McCarthy thing that we gotta do." He said.

"McCarthy?" Liz asked.

"The oral report." He reminded her.

"Oh yeah." Liz smacked a palm to her forehead, finally remembering.

"So we should get together sometime and talk about that." Alex told her.

"Yeah, sure." Liz agreed cheerfully.

"So, I'm off to gym. Dodge ball. Okay, so... wish me luck." He held up two thumbs up and grinned sarcastically.

"Good luck!" Liz gave him a pained smile.

"Thank you very much." Alex replied, and then headed off to his class.

"How am I going to tell Max?" Liz moaned, slumping against the lockers once he was gone.

"Not Michael?" Maria asked, confused.

"No. I don't want him to know just yet." She replied, looking rather glum. Maria nodded, understanding.

"My advice...over drinks." Maria patted her shoulder.

* * *

Max slammed a vender, taking out his frustrations on it.

"You hungry?" Liz asked, watching him argue with the vender.

"Oh, no. It's this machine. It's always acting up." He said, looking around at her.

"Can I ask you something?" She said, moving closer.

"Sure, but I have to be honest with you, Liz. At this point, I don't think I have any secrets left." Max said wryly. When she didn't reply right away, he frowned.

"Liz?" He asked.

"Look, Max...there's something that you should know because something happened..." She tried to explain, not really sure how best to put it.

"Hope I'm not interrupting." Michael interrupted,

"No, you're not." Liz told him, smiling shyly.

"Liz?" Max asked, but she shook her head.

"Um, it's nothing, Max. It's nothing important." She said, reluctant to admit that she'd screwed up in front of Michael.

"Interesting... Bye, Liz." Michael said dully, playing up the 'Stonewall Guerin' façade he'd had years to perfect. Liz left.

"You said you'd be nicer to her." Max sighed. Michael was about to snap back that he was, but then remembered that Max didn't know about the evening chats he held with Liz.

"And you said you'd stay away from her. Let's call it even." He replied, not willing to risk his time with Liz. Let Max think they hated each other or something.

* * *

She sat alone in the darkened classroom, trying not to let his words get to her. They _had_ agreed to act that way in public, but it didn't lessen the sting of his word.

"Liz?" It was Topolsky.

"Ms. Topolsky?" Liz yelped, surprised.

"Oh, um...yeah, I was...I was just leaving." Liz said, hurriedly getting up off of the desk.

"Not on my account, I hope." Topolsky answered, lowering the papers she was carrying.

"Oh, no, not at all. I was... I'm just... late for something." Liz struggled to find an excuse.

"Liz, I'm sure you have a fine reason for sitting alone in a dark classroom, but I wouldn't be much of a guidance counselor if I didn't ask what that reason is." Topolsky said, walking over to her.

"Oh, it's nothing. Yeah... everything's great." Liz told her.

"Sometimes we think we're all alone, but we're not. There are people all around us willing and eager to help. Maybe I'm not the first person you'd turn to in a moment like this, but I want you to know I'm not only a guidance counselor." Topolsky said.

"You're not?" Liz asked nervously.

"No, I'm also a friend... Now, does that make it any easier?" Topolsky smiled at her, and Liz suppressed a shiver, vaguely reminded of a Venus fly trap.

"Oh...yeah...it does." Liz lied.

"Good." Topolsky said, and then paused.

"Is everything really okay, Liz?" Topolsky eyed her carefully.

"Everything's great. Thank you." She plastered a fake smile onto her face and left the room quickly.

* * *

"Hey." Maria said, tagging Alex in the hallway.

"Maria De Luca, ladies and gentlemen." Alex said, grinning as he caught sight of Maria.

"Where's Parker?" He asked, looking around for a glimpse of the brunette.

"Oh, Liz? I don't know. Anyway, she's dealing with some stuff, so..." Maria

"Let me guess...Kyle's making a pathetic attempt at regaining boyfriend status." Alex guessed.

"No no. Nothing like that." Maria told him.

"Well, then what was it? Or is this one of these things that you can no longer talk with Alex about?" He asked, a little grumpy about the levels of secrecy lately.

"Look, I...I know it must really bother you the way Liz and I clam up every time you come around." Maria said, falling into step with him.

"Yeah, it's a little annoying." Alex grunted.

"Yeah, of course, and I'm sure it's our fault. I mean, actually...I know it's our fault and I just hope that..." Maria struggled to find the words.

"What?" Alex asked, looking at her.

"I just hope that it wouldn't cause you to do anything... you know... out of character..." Maria tried to be coherent.

"Ok, what are you talking about?" Alex stopped in his tracks, forcing her to turn.

"Liz's diary is missing and..." She was cut off.

"Wait... wait a second. Are you accusing me of taking Liz's diary?" Alex asked her, stunned.

"No no no. I'm not saying that at all. No. It's just that Liz and I were running through the facts of the case... you know, motive and opportunity..." Maria explained, not doing a very good job of it.

"So Liz is accusing me?" Alex demanded.

"No no. That's not what I'm saying either. It's just that, based on certain factors, you emerge as a credible suspect... but I know that that couldn't be true, right? I mean, it couldn't, could it?" She finished.

"Ok, you know what? The next time you and Liz feel the urge to share with me, you know...feel the impulse to really open up...do me a favor, ok? Let it pass." He snarled at her and stormed away. Two halls down, he angrily slammed his fist into his locker.

"That's school property, you know." Alex spun around quickly.

"Oh, Ms. Topolsky. I didn't know anyone was...I'm sorry about that." He garbled out an apology.

"Actually, it's not the locker I'm worried about, Alex." Topolsky told him, moving closer.

"Oh, me? Oh, no. You don't have to do that. I'm fine... really. I'm, I'm great!" He insisted. She raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

"Alex, could I talk with you in my office for a minute?" She asked politely.

"Yeah." He agreed, and followed her into her office, taking the seat in front of her desk.

"Is everything alright?" She asked him.

"Yes." He said quickly, too quickly.

"It didn't seem like that when you were attempting to loosen that locker." She pointed out. Alex visibly sagged.

"No, it's just...you know, things change. People change. You accept it and you move on." He told her sadly.

"Who's changed, Alex? You?" Topolsky pressed.

"No, not me." Alex admitted.

"Your girlfriend?" she tested.

"No, I don't have a... There's no girlfriend, Ms. Topolsky." He told her.

"Well, that doesn't surprise me. Teenage girls can never spot the good ones. I mean, look at Liz Parker...dating Kyle Valenti. He's a little obvious, don't you think?" She remarked casually.

"Yeah, well...you know, apparently Liz is going through some stuff right now, so..." He sighed again.

"Stuff?" She inquired lightly.

"It's stupid. Liz loses her diary, and the next thing I know, Inspector De Luca tells me that they have me pinned as the main suspect. These are my good friends, you know?" He leant back in his seat, frustrated.

"Would you like me to talk to them, Alex? Try to straighten this out?" She offered, resisting the urge to pump him for information.

"No no. It's ok. I can deal...well, anyway, I'm late for class, so..." Alex said, standing up and leaving the office. Once he was gone, Topolsky picked up the phone and dialed a number.

"Control." A man's voice said.

"7-3-2-9-0" Topolsky said, clear-as-day into the phone.

"What have you got?" Control asked.

"Something interesting has happened." Topolsky replied.

"Any chance of sending me some backup?" She asked.

* * *

Finally, Michael's desperation got the better of him, and he caved – heading off to the Art class that he usually avoided like the plague.

"That's good, Kelly. Remember to maintain your perspective." The art teacher, Mr. Cowan said to one of the students as he walked into the room.

"Mr. Guerin. To what to we owe this pleasure?" The Art Teacher, Mr. Cowan, asked, clearly stunned. The other students in the class looked up.

"What pleasure?" Michael asked, confused.

"You of course. I mean, it's Thursday, and I don't think I recall seeing you since Monday...of last week." Mr. Cowan said.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that...but I kinda just really want to draw." Michael told him, scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"You kinda just really want to draw?" Mr. Cowan repeated, stunned.

"Yeah...I didn't when they first made me take this class, but now I do." Michael told him. There was an awkward silence.

"I'm just gonna take this easel here..." He said, and snagged said easel. Mr. Cowan blinked, and then returned to watching the class.

"Keep your lines clean, Sydney." He said as he passed another easel.

* * *

"Hi, Kyle." Liz said, smiling tersely when he walked over to sit next to her at one of the lunch benches.

"So, you and Max Evans now?" He asked her, looking rather hurt. She blinked, confused. Why did _everybody_ seem to think that she liked Max?

"No no. We're... we're just friends." Liz defended.

"Oh, friends. Well, that is a popular position these days, Liz... isn't it?" Kyle shot back snarkliy.

"Look, Kyle. I know that you're angry with me, but this isn't easy for me either. If you could just like, try and understand..." She pleaded, but he cut her off.

"You know the best part about being broken up, Liz? I don't have to try anymore." He told her before walking away, anger hunching his shoulders.

* * *

That afternoon, Max hunted through the bookshelves of the UFO centre.

"That's a good read." His boss, Milton, said appearing out of nowhere. Max jumped.

"Yeah, you know...I was, I was just looking..." He said.

"Of course, Szcerbiak's theory that the military cover-up of the 1947 landing was financed by an international consortium lacks credible evidence to support it. Still, it debunks several fallacies that have long troubled me…" Milton sighed, and then perked up again.

"But, if you're going to be working here, for my money, these are the books to read." He told Max, flipping through the different titles.

"Walton... garbage. Ah yes, Atherton." He said, finally pulling one of the books from the shelf.

"'Among Us'" Max read the title out loud over Milton's shoulder.

"A bit on the alternative side. Atherton had an underground following...never truly embraced by the mainstream, such that it is." He sighed, and handed the book to Max.

"But it may be of some interest to a true believer like yourself. Take a look. Let me know what you think. I know you want answers, Max."

"Yes, I do." Max replied, turning to see Liz stick her head around a bookshelf.

"Well, go ahead. We both know she's more interesting than I am." Milton told him, retreating into his office.

"Hi." Max said, walking up to her.

"Hi... listen, can I talk to you for a second?" She asked him nervously.

"Sure." Max replied instantly.

"Not here." She told him, looking around.

"Okay." He led her into the back room.

"So, what's going on?" He asked her.

"Um...not much, actually. You?" She replied, fidgeting.

"Not much. You know, we probably could have had this conversation out front." Max told her.

"Yeah, right...um...we could have. Uh...there is actually one thing...what I didn't tell you before is, Max, um...I, I keep this diary." She explained, wringing her hands.

"Still not exactly back-room conversation, Liz." Max told her, absently wondering if this were her attempt to get him alone. Had he known where her interest really lay, he would have been sorely disappointed.

"Well, it's actually more of like a journal. Because that's what scientists call their diaries. Look...anyway, in this journal, I generally write everything that happened to me. Everything important, anyways. And lately that seems to include quite a few things." She babbled, desperate to get it all out. Somehow, Max actually understood what she was trying to say.

"And one of those things would be about..." Max gestured to himself. When she didn't answer, he swallowed nervously.

"Yeah...right. So that kind of leads us to the problem...the problem being that that journal with the stuff about...that stuff about you and Michael and the shooting and that whole entire day and everything...that journal is kind of just...missing." She said the last word rather quietly.

"Missing?" Max repeated hollowly.

"Not missing." She corrected hurriedly.

"Not missing?" He asked.

"No, it's misplaced." Liz insisted.

"Misplaced?" Forget the Alien DNA, was he part Parrot too?

"Temporarily misplaced." She reiterated quickly.

"Right..." Max said.

"Yeah..."

"Okay..." Max nodded to himself.

"No, I'm sure that there are...I'm sure that it's somewhere stupid, like under my bed or something." Liz told him.

"What exactly did you write in this thing, Liz? How bad is it?" He asked, worried.

"I'm gonna find it, Max. So, just... don't worry about anything, ok? And tomorrow, after I've found it... we're gonna have a really good laugh." She said, nodding to encourage herself.

"Just...give me one day, Max. Ok? And just...don't tell anyone, please. I promise you Max, I'm going to take care of it." She told him solemnly and left.

* * *

"Where is it? Where are you?" Liz grumbled, half under her bed as she searched for her journal.

"Oh, there you are." Her Mom said, coming into her room just in time to see Liz retreat from her search. Dust bunnies clung to her brown hair.

"Alex just called. Although I'm quite sure that you were in no great rush to speak with him." Mrs. Parker commented.

"Um, how would you know that?" Liz asked nervously.

"How would I know what?" Her Mom asked, confused.

"That I might not want to speak with Alex. Why would you say that, mom? I've never even told you that." Liz said, looking rather jumpy.

"No, I guess you didn't." Mrs. Parker admitted.

"Mom, that's personal and private. I mean, have I ever even said anything to you about Alex or...or Alex and me?" Liz asked, paranoia beginning to take hold. Her Mother stopped to think for a moment.

"No, I don't recall you saying anything. You're right." She replied, frowning slightly as she thought.

"I'm just saying, mom, that it seems a little strange that you would say something like that...you know, that you would...that you would conclude something that I've never even told you, that something that I've only even written..." Liz started to hyperventilate as she babbled.

"Is everything all right with you?" He Mom asked, worried by Liz's erratic behavior.

"Oh... um, yeah. Sorry...I've, I've just been edgy all day. Sorry." Liz apologized, running a hand through her hair.

"I'll see you later." Mrs. Parker said, backing out of the room.

"Okay." Liz agreed, and then turned to her room again, face set with determination.

* * *

Michael sat in one of the Crashdown booths with his pseudo-siblings, intently sketching his vision, over and over again.

"Michael, do you really think you should be doing that here?" Isabel asked, watching him sketch the dome image over and over.

"Doing what?" He asked, not looking up from his task.

"Drawing that thing... whatever it is... in public... here." She said, looking around the Crashdown where they were sat.

"It's getting clearer." He mumbled, etching the lines carefully.

"It's getting weirder is what it's getting." Isabel mumbled, rolling her eyes. She turned to Max.

"Max, will you please tell Michael this isn't a good idea?" She asked.

"Max, you okay?" She asked when he didn't reply.

"Yeah yeah. No, it's just Atherton. Listen to this. He says...this guy is nuts...that aliens wouldn't possess the lung capacity or brain capacity for more than short-term survival on Earth." Max read from the book.

"_Brain capacity?!_" He exclaimed, annoyed. Isabel rolled her eyes.

"Max, will you say something to Michael please? He'll listen to you." She begged. Max finally pulled his nose out of the book for long enough to see what Michael was doing. He was drawing the dome-thing again.

"Wow, that's getting pretty good." He said, watching Michael work.

"I've been working on it in art class." Michael explained, proudly.

"Max, this isn't right. I mean, we're getting careless." Isabel insisted.

"Isabel, it's just a sketch, all right?" Michael defended himself, curling an arm over his work in case she decided to spill her drink over it.

"We can't keep pretending that what we do doesn't matter, that what we do isn't noticed, because it is. And if we're not careful, then..." She broke off suddenly when Kyle Valenti and his friends entered the Crashdown. Kyle made a beeline for Max.

"I'm onto you, Evans." Kyle told him once he reached the booth, before walking away again. Max tensed up.

"What was that about?" Isabel asked him.

"I have no idea." Max lied through his teeth, and pretended to go to the bathroom. Once he was in there, he immediately exited through the employee door and scaled the stairs to Liz's home. He met her at the top of the stairs.

"Kyle stole it. Kyle stole your journal." Max told her, his voice panicky.

"No, Max... don't go Maria on me, ok? It's not stolen, it's just...it's misplaced." Liz told him, sighing with frustration.

"Just now, he looked right at me and said, 'I'm onto you'...it means he read your journal, Liz. It means he knows about me." Max started jumping to conclusions. Liz's eye twitched. It was awfully presumptuous of his to assume that there was really that much about him in her Journal.

"No, Max. It's not about the journal. It's about _us_, okay? Kyle thinks that you had something to do with our breaking up. He thinks that I like you, which is ridiculous because I barely know you. He's not a thief. You know, the journal has only been missing for one day. Kyle hasn't been in my house in over a week." She told him, ignoring the hurt in his eyes. He _really_ needed to get over himself.

"And the Crashdown?" Max asked, trying to ignore what she'd just said.

"No, not there either." She admitted with a sigh. The front door opened, and Liz quickly shoved him into her room. She really wasn't up for explaining his presence to her parents.

"Hello?" Her mother called, not getting a reply.

"Your room, huh?" Max asked, walking over to a table where a CD sat on the edge, not yet put away.

"Good album." Max commented offhandedly, picking it up. He tensed up as he received a flash from the residual energy.

"He was here." Max realized.

"Who was here?" Liz asked, walking back into her room.

"Kyle." Max said.

"No, Max. I told you. Kyle hasn't been here for over a week." Liz dismissed him.

"I saw him." Max told her.

"You saw him?" Liz asked, skeptical. If this was all because Max was jealous of Kyle, he was so gonna get it.

"I had a flash, Liz. When things get intense, heightened, sometimes we feel things...see things. He was here, Liz." Max insisted.

* * *

She found him on the outdoor basketball courts, running drills with his friends and teammates.

"Hi." He said, acknowledging her when she walked up to him.

"Hi." Liz replied.

"Uh, I got the CD, Kyle. Thanks." She told him.

"Oh yeah? That's great. Your dad let me in." He explained.

"Kyle, I know when two people break up, it's...it's not easy. It's not as easy as they thought it might be, you know?" Liz said hesitantly.

"Yeah." He agreed, not sure where she was going with this.

"You know, these people... They might say or do things that they don't mean, you know? Uncharacteristic things. Maybe they're just confused, you know? Looking for answers and reasons. Do you know what I mean?" She said, trying to be tactful.

"Yeah, I do. That's why I want you to know that you can ask me anything, Liz. I don't have any secrets from you." Kyle told her in a passive-aggressive tone.

"Is that what you think, Kyle? I have secrets? Do you think it's those secrets that broke us up?" Liz asked him.

"Well, maybe, Liz." Kyle replied.

"So when you were in my room, alone, you had a chance to discover what those secrets were. Isn't that right?" She decided.

"What? What are you so scared of?" Kyle eyed her suspiciously.

"What?" Liz tensed up.

"What secrets are you so afraid of me knowing? The truth about Max Evans? About why you've been so weird ever since that day at the Crashdown? Is that what your secrets are?" He asked her, and she shifted, uncomfortably.

"Kyle, this is serious. What you have, I really need back." Liz insisted.

"We all want something back, Liz. It's too bad life isn't always fair." Kyle said gruffly, before walking away.

"Kyle..."

* * *

"This isn't good, you know." Isabel murmured, staring at the vibrant painting that was hung on display in the school's art gallery.

"No, I see that." Max replied as Michael came up behind them.

"It's pretty good, huh? I didn't even know I could paint. But Mr. Cowan said it's the best thing that's come out of this class all year." He told them proudly.

"Michael, this isn't right." Isabel told him.

"What isn't?" He asked, entranced by his own work.

"A public display... Your thing just sitting here." Isabel told him, eyeing the piece of artwork.

"This is not a thing, all right. It's... I'm not exactly sure what it is, but..." As Michael tried to find the words to describe it; Max cut in.

"What Isabel is trying to say is that it's not a very good idea. It could be dangerous." He told his friend.

"Dangerous? How can it be dangerous? It doesn't mean anything to anyone, including myself." Michael exclaimed.

"But Michael, that's not really the point. The point is, we shouldn't be taking chances like this." Max told him.

"You did. You were the one who told Liz. I may have healed her, but you made the choice to tell her." Michael pointed out.

"Yes, I did. That's right. But she would have figured it out anyway." Max said calmly.

"Then why didn't you let her?" Michael growled.

"I prevented her from asking dangerous questions, Michael. I wasn't dabbling in the arts." Max snapped at him. Michael glared at him, and then walked away.

* * *

Topolsky sat in her office with a small group of FBI Agents.

"I think Liz Parker's diary provides one of the most compelling leads I've ever encountered since I joined the unit." Topolsky told the Agent's she'd been given point on.

"Wait a second... I cut my vacation short for a diary?" One of the men spoke up, and then quailed under her sharp gaze.

"This is not just a diary, Agent. This is potential proof of alien contact. Not from a crackpot farmer or a drunk somewhere, but from a straight A student. Treasurer of the Roswell science club." Topolsky scolded him.

"So, uh... Any idea where this diary might be?" The Agent in question asked.

"I think I do. This is where we should get started." Topolsky handed him a file.

"She's been having a problem with her boyfriend."

* * *

That evening, Max drove her to Kyle's house to see if he had her Journal.

"Hey, I'm here if you need me." Max told her as they scaled the porch steps, and she knocked on the door.

"Kyle? Sheriff Valenti?" Liz called, but received no reply. Max turned the door knob, and surprisingly enough, the door opened.

"Someone should tell the sheriff that deadbolts don't work as well when you leave your door open." Max quipped, not realizing what it meant. Somebody had beaten them there.

"Max, we shouldn't be in here." Liz said as Max stepped toward the front door. She would have felt a lot safer if Michael were there.

"You're right, so let's make this quick. Which way is Kyle's room?" Max asked, crossing the threshold and entering the house.

"Max..." Liz warned.

"Look, we'll get in, we'll grab your journal, and we'll get out. And in the process, we'll save my life." He told her, and went further into the room.

"So which way is Kyle's room?" He asked, and Liz followed him inside, shutting the door behind her. Neither of them noticed that somebody was watching them. Unaware of their watcher, Liz led Max to Kyle's room.

"You start in the closet. I'll start here." Max said, and stuck his head under the bed. There wasn't much aside from some magazines and a picture of Kyle and Liz.

"It's not under here. Any luck?" Max asked, moving to rifle through the drawers.

"No. It's not in here, Max. Look, maybe Kyle doesn't have it." Liz said, turning around.

"You mean, maybe Kyle doesn't have it anymore." Max pointed out. They ducked as a shadow passed over the front window.

"Wait here." Max told her, and poked his head around the door in time to see the front door opening.

"Max, it's Kyle." Liz whispered, catching a glimpse of him.

"Come on, let's go." Max hissed, and they slipped out the back door and into the night.

* * *

The next morning, Michael once again participated in his Art class, happily sketching away with graphite.

"I see you've chosen your favorite subject." Mr. Cowan remarked, moving to stand behind Michael who was still determinedly drawing the dome shape.

"Yeah, you know I just can't seem to get it out of my head." Michael replied, eyes fixed on his paper.

"Yeah, I see. That's quite good, Michael. It is." Mr. Cowan commented, watching him work.

"Thank you." Michael replied.

"But don't you think it's time you drew something else?" Mr. Cowan asked.

"Something else?" Michael repeated blankly. The only other thing he'd be interest in drawing was… well, was Liz. But somehow he didn't think that'd go down well with the others… or her Dad.

"Well, when the class drew fruit, you drew this. When the class sketched the human form, you drew this again. You're a talented artist, Mr. Guerin. But you can't go through the semester drawing only a geodesic dome." Mr. Cowan told him.

"A what?" Michael asked, having not really known what it was that he had been drawing.

"A geodesic dome. Perhaps before your time. It's a type of house, architecturally postmodern." Mr. Cowan explained.

"A house..." Michael said softly, not hearing Mr. Cowan.

"As I was saying, Mr. Guerin, an artist of your ability can draw something else... Something besides this. Perhaps..." He gestured to what the other Art students were doing, which was sketching a statue. Michael looked at the statue, and then back at Mr. Cowan, before flipping to a fresh page on his easel and drawing a stick figure.

"Stick with the dome." Mr. Cowan said, realizing he wasn't going to get Michael to budge on the subject.

* * *

"Michael's painting isn't our biggest problem right now." Max told them, flopping down onto the picnic bench that Isabel was sat at. Michael lay nearby, draped over a small stone wall.

"Does that imply that there's a problem I'm not aware of?" Isabel asked him grumpily. Michael didn't even acknowledge the conversation.

"But before I tell you, you need to know that...it's not Liz's fault. You see, Liz keeps a journal. Everything that happens to her, she writes down. Including that day at the cafe...what Michael did...who he is... who we are..." Max trailed off as Isabel's temper began to simmer.

"But you can't blame her, all right? You've got to promise me..." He insisted.

"Blame her for what?" Michael asked him.

"For losing her journal..." Max admitted reluctantly. Michael had to resist the urge to smile.

"Oh, my God." Isabel muttered.

"I know it sounds bad, but it'll turn up. I know it will. But until then, I'm handling it." Max told her, and then turned to Michael.

"Michael, did you hear what I said? Michael?" He asked. Michael ignored him.

* * *

That evening Liz was left alone to close the Crashdown, and was finishing up by wiping down surfaces and scrubbing out the sink.

"Sorry, we're closed." Liz called out automatically as the bell on the door chimed; it was then that she looked up.

"Michael...um, I'm sorry, the kitchen's closed." She told him. Usually, if he wanted to see her, he came up the fire escape.

"That's all right. I just ate." Michael told her. The look on his face said that he wasn't there for a social call. Something about tonight was different.

"Um, you know, actually this is for employees only." Liz told him as he stepped behind the counter. She glanced around to see if her Dad had gone upstairs yet. Thankfully, he had.

"Max told me what happened." Michael said, making her stop dead.

"Oh...he did?" She replied faintly, watching him pace past her and around the end of the bar.

"What did he say?" Liz asked nervously.

"He said you wrote it all down, Liz." Michael was frowning.

"He said that?" Liz said, feeling like the worst person in the world.

"I want you to know it wasn't smart to write all those things down, Liz." He told her, and she shrunk in on herself a little.

"Yeah...I know that now." She replied, regretting the journal.

"I knew it a week ago." Michael's eyes were sad.

"Excuse me?" Liz said, scared.

"That was the night I sat at the first booth, you remember. It was late like tonight and you were at the counter... writing." Michael told her.

_"Homework?" He had asked, curiously._

_"Uh, yeah...a little bit". Liz had lied, not wanting him to know that she kept a journal._

"But it wasn't homework, was it?" Michael said, already knowing the answer.

"No, it wasn't." She admitted, looking down at her shoes.

"You could have put us in an awful spot, Liz. Roswell's not exactly the town you want to be unique in, if you know what I mean. I had to know the risk...so I had to know what your journal said." He explained.

"You took it..." Liz realized, and then paled rapidly as she remembered what she'd written about him.

"I never meant for things to get out of control... It's just… old instincts kicking in and all. I'm sorry." He said, and handed the journal back to her.

"Does Max know that you..." Liz asked, praying that Max hadn't seen her written thoughts.

"No... and you know what would be really great? If you didn't tell him." Michael said, grinning mischievously. Liz couldn't help but laugh, thankful for the brief levity.

"Michael, anyone who found this would know all about you. So why didn't you just destroy it?" She asked him. He watched her carefully for a moment.

"No... They'd know all about you, Liz. They'd know just how special you are." Michael told her gently.

"Thank you for proving me to be a paranoid fool. Could you forgive me?" He said, bowing his head in shame. She smiled at him and nodded.

"I just have one question though." He said softly, happy now that the theft was behind them.

"What?" Liz couldn't help but ask.

"Will you put your money where your mouth is?" He smirked, indicating the slip of paper sticking out of her journal. Liz frowned and opened the small book, flushing as she realized which entry this was. Oh dear.

_'Sometimes I want to kill him, he's so frustrating, and yet sometimes it's all I can do too hold myself back from kissing him. It's that damnable smirk of his, the one that he uses when he's feeling so proud of himself.'_There was a sticky note stuck underneath that line in particular, and on it, scrawled in Michael's messy handwriting, were three words.

_'I dare you.'_

She blinked. _What?_ She blinked again, and then looked back at him. He was smirking the _exact_ smirk that she had always felt the need to kiss off of him. Liz shut the book and put it down on the countertop, eyeing him carefully. His eyes were twinkling, and Liz felt her stomach flip.

"I… uh…" Liz stammered, courage failing. She gulped, and so Michael took the plunge. He leant across the countertop and kissed her gently. Liz let out a squeak of surprise, before giving in and kissing him back.

It was short, and sweet, and when he pulled away to watch her reaction, it left her wanting more. They stood there, staring at each other for another minute before Liz's courage returned. Slowly, she reached out and grasped the collar of his shirt, before pulling him back down to her height for a repeat performance.

This time it was even better, and she felt a warm butterfly sensation creep through her lower stomach as he responded just as eagerly, his fingers coming up to pull her ponytail loose and tangle in her hair. When they came up for air, she realized she was still holding onto his shirt and had to force herself to let go. Her heart was racing and her face was flushed.

"I, um, I have to go." He told her quietly once their breathing had slowed. She nodded mutely, understanding and picked up the journal. It wouldn't do to forget it, or lose it again.

"You might want to get better window locks... Y'know, for when your criminals happen to be human." Michael winked at her before walking away, still wearing that damned smirk. Liz held the journal close to her chest as she watched him go, a dazed look on her face. Once he was gone, she pressed her fingers to her lips. That was _some_ kiss.

* * *

The next day, Liz reluctantly sought out Max at the UFO Centre where he worked.

"Hi." Liz said tentatively, peering around one of the bookshelves.

"Oh, hey." Max's eyes lit up when he saw her.

"I seem to be finding myself here quite a bit lately." Liz told him, wishing it weren't so. If only he weren't so… puppy-like.

"Maybe you'd be interested in the season pass. $19...it includes the guided tour and a box lunch." Max quipped, hoping she'd agree to come see him more often. Liz forced a smile.

"Everything's okay, Max. I have my journal." Liz told him.

"You found it." Max looked up quickly.

"I guess you could say it found me. I left it at the Crashdown and a customer returned it." Liz replied cryptically.

"A customer?" Max repeated.

"A friend...a good friend." Liz smiled. A good friend indeed.

"Uh...look, Max, now that this is all over and everything, I feel I owe you an explanation to why I wrote those things." Liz said, knowing what she did had been foolish.

"No, you don't." Max told her, eager to be the nice guy. He didn't even stop to think of how dangerous her actions could have been.

"No...I know you think that I was foolish, you know, to write about that day and Michael and everything. What I wrote in my journal, it didn't really have anything to do with science. Um...that day that he saved me, I felt something that I just had to put into words..." She trailed off.

"So, can I see it? What you wrote?" Max's curiosity began to rear its head.

"Oh...yeah, I don't...I don't think that's a good idea." Liz bit her lip. It'd be a cold day in hell before she let Max Evans see her so intimately.

"No?" Max asked, now he was really interested.

"No." She confirmed.

"Why? Because if I read what you wrote in your journal, I realize how you really see _me_ and the others." Max said, sounding rather full of himself when he put the emphasis on himself.

"Exactly." Liz lied through her teeth. It was rather because she wasn't up for dealing with his puppy-dog antics once he realized that she preferred his best friend.

* * *

That afternoon Max sat with Isabel and Michael at a picnic bench in the park.

"I can't believe you're still reading that." Isabel gave the book Max was reading a disgusted look.

"Guilty pleasure." He replied wryly, nose still buried in the pages of 'Among Us'. Isabel poked him in the side, and then gestured to Michael who was staring into space, an odd look upon his face. He looked… dazed.

"Michael, you ok?" Max asked, shaking Michael out of his trance. He was still on an emotional high form the previous night.

"Yeah. I just wish I had a few more answers. The dome, you know? I mean what's the point of having a vision if it doesn't mean anything?" Michael replied absent-mindedly, trying to throw them off.

"Patience, space boy." Max said smugly. Liz had probably swung by to let him know that they weren't in danger. Git.

"You're in an awfully good mood...does this mean that the diary..." She trailed off, eyes narrowing on Michael when she saw him twitch at the mention of the diary. He _knew_ something.

"Safe and sound." Max replied.

"So where was it?" Isabel asked, still eyeing Michael.

"Liz wouldn't say. She said a good friend brought it back." Max told her before getting up.

"Anybody want anything?" He asked.

"I'll go with you." Michael said; keen to get away from Isabel. Once she latched onto something she was like a pit-bull. She wouldn't let go.

"Isabel?" Max asked his sister, who had started flipping through 'Among Us'

"No thanks." She said dully, looking the pages over as Max and Michael walked off.

"Boring." She groaned, dropping the book. By sheer chance, or fate or luck, the book flopped open to the last page that held information on the author.

"Max. Michael." She yelped, and they immediately returned to her side.

"What's the problem?" Max asked her, suddenly alert.

"This." Isabel opened the book to the back.

"Michael, it's your vision." Isabel told him, holding up the book sleeve. In the background of the author's picture was a white, geodesic dome.

* * *

_"October 28th. I've missed a few days. But in my absence I've been thinking about some things, about life before Michael Guerin saved me, of how I used to pray for something to happen, something to just break the routine, you know, of school and work... _

_Something that would make a small town feel bigger, that would make a small town girl feel bigger, too. And ever since I got my wish and Michael patched a bullet hole 2 inches below my ribs, I realized one thing...that the bigger your world gets, the bigger your problems get, too."_

* * *

**21.04.2013**

**AN:**

**1) For the Kiss scene, I used what I could remember from my first kiss with my… partner? What do you call a long-term boyfriend who is more than just a boyfriend? This scene was actually the first spark of an idea for this fic. I had a funky dream that involved said scene and some other things which I can't disclose for fear of spoilers. **

**That said, if anybody reading this is a good artist, proficient in doing sketches of vehicles, do let me know. I have a rough idea of an Alien motor bike that I plan to use in the second season, *cough cough* Spoilers *cough cough* which will be the sequel to this fic, and while I know what I want it to look like, it'd be hard to describe so it'd be good to have a reference fic.**

**2) Michael is an interesting character to write. Looking at him on screen, I see an emotionally-unstable young man who craves stability, love and comfort but is denied all three due to being a foster child in an abusive home. While he has Max and Isabel, neither of them have the identity issues that he has, because they have a stable home. **

**3) Chapter 6: Roadtrip, and Chapter 7: The Reservation, will be up within the next few weeks or so.**

**4) Email Sophia Conrad at: _Aspenwilder at Gmail dot com_**

**5) Transcripts found here: _www dot crashdown dot com/episodes/season1 dot php_**


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